Marbled beauty | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Superfamily: | Noctuoidea |
Family: | Noctuidae |
Genus: | Cryphia |
Species: | C. domestica |
Binomial name | |
Cryphia domestica (Hufnagel, 1766) | |
Synonyms | |
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The marbled beauty (Cryphia domestica) is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. [1] It is an abundant species throughout most of Europe east to the Urals, and it is probably the most common lichenivorous moth of the Palearctic realm.
This is quite a small species with a wingspan of 22–30 mm. The forewings are white with dark grey cryptic markings, giving excellent camouflage against the lichens on which the eggs are laid. The intensity of the markings vary considerably, with darker individuals predominating in urban areas, an example of industrial melanism. A significant proportion of individuals also have orange or yellow markings. The hindwings are whitish with a broad grey band at the margin. The adults fly at night in July and August and are attracted to light.
It is found across Europe, where it occurs as far south as Sicily and in the north to Gotland. The eastern distribution is uncertain but it may reach central Asia. It rises over 2000 metres above sea level in the Alps.
Forewing cream white with slaty-grey markings; orbicular and claviform (club shaped) stigmata confluent forming a figure of eight; hindwing whitish grey with cell spot and outer line dark grey. The species varies in opposite directions; either the dark scales of forewing are more or less obsolete and the wing is overrun with yellow scaling ab. lutescens Fuchs or the wing becomes wholly suffused with the dark tints ab. suffusa Tutt; the dark specimens from the Pyrenees, referred here by Staudinger, are blacker than the very darkest British specimens, the whole hindwing being blackish also; in ab. distincta Tutt the ground colour is white, the discoidal spots dark grey; four short dark dashes on costa at centre and a shade near apex, a short basal streak and a shade beneath the orbicular stigma are the only markings. [2]
The larva is bluish grey with orange markings along the back. It feeds exclusively on lichens such as Lecidea and Xanthoria . [3] This species overwinters as a larva.
The garden dart is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is distributed throughout much of the Palearctic. Temperate regions of Europe, Central Asia and North Asia, as well as the mountains of North Africa. Absent from polar regions, on Iceland and some Mediterranean islands, as well as in Macaronesia.
The square-spot rustic is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in Europe, North Africa and east across the Palearctic and in North America.
The common Quaker is a moth of the family Noctuidae first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775. Some authors prefer the synonym Orthosia stabilis(Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775). It is distributed throughout Europe and is also found in Turkey, Israel, Transcaucasia, Russia and eastern Siberia.
The minor shoulder-knot is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1776. It is distributed throughout Europe then east across the Palearctic to Siberia and Japan. It also occurs in Turkey.
Eupsilia transversa, the satellite, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is distributed throughout the Palearctic.
Agrochola circellaris, or The Brick, is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is distributed throughout most of Europe, Asia Minor and Armenia.
The poplar grey is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found throughout Europe.
The straw underwing is a species of moth in the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is found from North Africa west through South Europe and Central Europe. In the north it is in parts of Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Estonia. Further east the range stretches from southern Russia and Asia minor to the Caucasus.
Apamea monoglypha, the dark arches, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is a common, sometimes abundant, European species. It is found in most of Europe except northernmost Fennoscandia and the southern parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Greece. The species is also found in Anatolia, Turkestan, Western Asia and Central Asia, Siberia and Mongolia. In the Alps it is found up to heights of 2,500 meters. The smaller subspecies sardoa is found on Sardinia and Corsica.
Apamea crenata, known as the clouded-bordered brindle, is a moth in the family Noctuidae. It is distributed throughout the Palearctic realm. In the North it crosses the Arctic Circle, in the Mediterranean it is found only in cool locations and mountains avoiding very hot areas. In the Alps, it rises to an altitude of about 2000 metres.
Apamea sordens, the rustic shoulder-knot or bordered apamea, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is distributed throughout Europe, east across the Palearctic to Central Asia and to China and Japan. It also occurs in North America.
The marbled green is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Reinhold Forster in 1771. It is found in Europe. Its wings are white with several shades of green. However, the green fades.
Acronicta euphorbiae, the sweet gale moth, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775.
Caradrina morpheus, the mottled rustic, is a moth of the superfamily Noctuoidea. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is found across the Palearctic from northern Europe to Siberia, Amur and Korea. Also in Armenia and Turkestan. It was accidentally introduced on both the east and west coasts of Canada and is so far reported in the east from New Brunswick to Ontario, and in the west from British Columbia.
Cryphia raptricula, the marbled gray, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is found over the Palearctic from the Atlantic Ocean to Central Asia, the Russian Far East including Ussuri and the Altai Mountains. Southward, it reaches the northern parts of the Sahara desert. It is found in central and south-east Europe.
Xanthia gilvago, the dusky-lemon sallow, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is found in Europe.
Agrotis vestigialis, the archer's dart, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is found in most of the Palearctic realm from Ireland east, through to Russia, Siberia, the Altai Mountains and the Amur region, and is also present in the Mediterranean Basin. It is absent from the north of Finland and Norway.
Agrotis trux, the crescent dart, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1824. It has a circum-Mediterranean distribution and is found along the coasts of France, Ireland, England, southern Europe, Algeria, Syria, Iraq, Iran, southern Russia and the Arabian Peninsula. In Africa, it is found as far south as South Africa.
Polia nebulosa, the grey arches, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is found in temperate Europe and Asia up to eastern Asia and Japan. It is not present in northernmost Fennoscandia and the southern parts of the Iberian Peninsula, Italy and Greece. In the Alps it is found at heights up to 1,600 meters.
Lithophane furcifera, the conformist, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is found from central Europe, east to the Black Sea region, the Caucasus and western Siberia. In the mountains, it is found up to elevations of 1,800 meters.