Mythimna ferrago

Clay
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Superfamily:	Noctuoidea
Family:	Noctuidae
Genus:	Mythimna
Species:	M. ferrago
Binomial name
	Mythimna ferrago; (Fabricius, 1787)
Synonyms
	Aletia ferrago

Last updated December 21, 2024

Mythimna ferrago, the clay, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1787. It is distributed throughout Europe^[1] and is also found in Morocco, Algeria, Turkey, Asia Minor, Armenia, Syria, Turkestan, Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Central Asia and the western parts of temperate North Asia. Also Tibet.

The forewings of this species vary from buffish to orangey brown, usually with a darker central line running longways down the wing, interrupted by a pale stigma.^[2] There are usually a few small dark spots in the basal area. The hindwings are dark grey with paler margins. The male is easily recognizable by a triangular area of black hair on the underside of the abdomen. The wingspan is 36–44 mm. This moth flies at night in July and August and is attracted to light and sugar.

Technical description and variation

The wingspan is 36–44 mm. Forewing pale greyish rufous, speckled with dark; lines indistinct, dark grey; the outer regularly lunulate-dentate, the teeth marked by black dashes on veins; reniform stigma obscure, ending in a cloudy pale spot at lower end of cell; hindwing greyish ochreous; ventral tufts black. The species varies in coloration: ferrago F. is the reddest form: - grisea Haw, is grey without any rufous admixture, with the markings generally clearer; fulvescens Tutt is rare, with fulvous in the place of red; — ab. marginata Tutt has silvery grey hindwings with broad dark border.^[3] See also Hacker et al., 2002 ,^[4]

Biology

M.ferrago is found in almost all grassy habitats from dry-warm grassy slopes to cool-moist meadows near bogs and waterside areas. It also occurs on forest paths, clearings and snails in forests as well as in villages and cultivated land. In the Alps it rises to 1700 meters The larvae are brownish yellow with a white dorsal line; lateral lines broad, whiter, containing the black spiracles. It feeds on various grasses including Deschampsia .^[5] The species overwinters as a small larva.

^ The flight season refers to the British Isles. This may vary in other parts of the range.

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common Quaker</span> Species of moth

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.

Mythimna impura, the smoky wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1808. It is distributed throughout most of the Palearctic realm from Ireland in the west of Europe east to the Caucasus, Turkey, Syria, Kazakhstan, Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, then Japan. In Europe it is found from the Arctic Circle to Spain and Italy in the south, as well as in the northern regions of Greece.

Mythimna pallens, the common wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae distributed throughout the Palearctic realm from Ireland in the west, through Europe to Central Asia and Amur to the Kuriles in the east. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.

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.

The lunar underwing is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Adrian Hardy Haworth in 1809. It has a scattered distribution in western Europe including Spain, Scandinavia and Algeria.

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 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.

Mythimna albipuncta, the white-point, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is distributed throughout Europe and one subspecies is found in Tunisia. It is also found in Asia Minor, Armenia, and Iran, and the northeastern United States.

Mythimna l-album, the L-album wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1767 12th edition of Systema Naturae. It is distributed throughout Europe, but is also found in North Africa from Morocco to Tunisia and in the Levant, then east across the Palearctic to Central Asia. It is not found in the far north of the Arabian Peninsula. The limit in the north varies. It occurs on the northern edge of the range as a migrant. From southern England, then Denmark and southern Scandinavia, the north limit cuts across the Baltic Sea across the Baltic states then south of Moscow to the Urals.

Mythimna vitellina, the delicate, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1808. It is mainly distributed throughout southern Europe and the southern part of eastern Europe. It is also found far less commonly further north in Europe. Also in North Africa, the Near East and Middle East, Central Asia and western China.

Globia sparganii, or Webb's wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper in 1790. It is found in Europe, Central Asia, from southern Siberia to Manchuria, Korea, Turkey, Syria and Iran.

Orthosia incerta, the clouded drab, is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae, found in Europe and Asia. The occurrence of the species extends through all European countries through the Palearctic to the Russian Far East and Japan. It is absent from northern Fennoscandia and in the Alps it occurs up to 2000 m above sea level.

Mythimna straminea, the southern wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Georg Friedrich Treitschke in 1825. It is found in the western parts of the Palearctic realm, including Morocco, Europe, Turkey, the Caucasus, Israel, and Lebanon.

Mythimna turca, the double line, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1761. It is found in Europe. The eastern expansion extends through northern Asia and central Asia to northern China, Korea and Japan. It rises to a height of about 700 metres in the Alps.

Mythimna conigera, the brown-line bright-eye, is a moth of the family Noctuidae.

Mythimna favicolor, or Mathew's wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Charles Golding Barrett in 1896. It is found in Europe. The species is sometimes treated as a subspecies of Mythimna pallens, the common wainscot.

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.

Eriopygodes imbecilla, the Silurian, is a moth of the family Noctuidae first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1794.

References

↑ Chinery, Michael (1986, reprinted 1991). Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe.
↑ Skinner, Bernard (1984). The Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles .
↑ Seitz, A. Ed., 1914 Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde, Verlag Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart Band 3: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen eulenartigen Nachtfalter, 1914
↑ Hermann Hacker, László Ronkay & Márton Hreblay: Noctuidae Europaeae vol. 4 Hadeninae I. Entomological Press, Sorø 2002 ISBN 87-89430-07-7
↑ Robinson, Gaden S.; Ackery, Phillip R.; Kitching, Ian J.; Beccaloni, George W.; Hernández, Luis M. (2010). "Search the database - introduction and help". HOSTS - A Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants. Natural History Museum, London.

External links

Kimber, Ian. "73.298 BF2193 The Clay Mythimna ferrago (Fabricius, 1787)". UKMoths. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
Savela, Markku. "Mythimna ferrago (Fabricius, 1787)". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved July 3, 2019. Taxonomy
Lepiforum e.V.

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[1] Chinery, Michael (1986, reprinted 1991). Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe.

[2] Skinner, Bernard (1984). The Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles .

[3] Seitz, A. Ed., 1914 Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde, Verlag Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart Band 3: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen eulenartigen Nachtfalter, 1914

[4] Hermann Hacker, László Ronkay & Márton Hreblay: Noctuidae Europaeae vol. 4 Hadeninae I. Entomological Press, Sorø 2002 ISBN 87-89430-07-7

[5] Robinson, Gaden S.; Ackery, Phillip R.; Kitching, Ian J.; Beccaloni, George W.; Hernández, Luis M. (2010). "Search the database - introduction and help". HOSTS - A Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants. Natural History Museum, London.

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