Mythimna impura

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Smoky wainscot
Mythimna impura.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Mythimna
Species:
M. impura
Binomial name
Mythimna impura
(Hübner, 1808)

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 (including Sicily) in the south, as well as in the northern regions of Greece.

Contents

Larva Mythimna impura larva.jpg
Larva

As with other "wainscots", this species has buffish yellow forewings with prominent venation. The smoky wainscot has a dark basal streak with another shorter streak nearer to the costa and tornus. This species has grey hindwings with white margins. The wingspan is 31–38 mm.

Technical description and variation

Forewing ochreous, with a rufous tinge; veins, especially the median, whiter, lined by fine brown streaks, which also appear in the interspaces; a dark shade below median nervure; a black clot at lower angle of cell; outer row of dots shown only by those on veins 2 and 5; hindwing dull grey. - ab. dungana Alph., from Turkestan and Tibet, is a darker, more fuscous, form in which the dark streaks become obscured; - ab. transbaikalensis Stgr. from Transbaikal has the forewing dusted with red brown, and the dark streaks almost obsolete; — ab. amurensis Stgr. is wholly darker; the forewing with the white veins and the dark markings more distinct; - in ab. fuscipennis nov. [Warren] from Calabria and La Grave, Hautes Alpes, smaller than typical, the hindwing is blackish fuscous. [1] See also Hacker et al. [2]

Similar species

Mythimna impura is difficult to certainly distinguish from its congeners. See Townsend et al. [3] for genitalia images and an identification key.

Figs 5 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d larva after last moult Buckler W The larvae of the British butterflies and moths PlateLIX.jpg
Figs 5 5a, 5b, 5c, 5d larva after last moult

Biology

One or two broods are produced each year and adults can be seen at any time between June and October. It flies at night and is attracted to light, sugar and various flowers. The larva is brown or greyish ochreous, sometimes tannish peach; the lines pale with darker edges. It feeds on various grasses including Alopecurus , Dactylis , Deschampsia , Leymus and Phragmites and has also been recorded on the sedge, Carex and the rush, Luzula . [4] This species overwinters as a small larva.

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shoulder-striped wainscot</span> Species of moth

The shoulder-striped wainscot is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1761. Some authors place it in the genus Mythimna. It is found throughout Europe and in Russia to the west of the Urals.

<i>Mythimna albipuncta</i> Species of moth

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.

<i>Mythimna l-album</i> Species of moth

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.

<i>Mythimna vitellina</i> Species of moth

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.

<i>Hoplodrina blanda</i> Species of moth

Hoplodrina blanda is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in the Palearctic realm.

<i>Mythimna pudorina</i> Species of moth

Mythimna pudorina, the striped wainscot, is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in the Palearctic realm. Also Armenia, Asia Minor and eastern Siberia.

<i>Archanara geminipuncta</i> Species of moth

Archanara geminipuncta, the twin-spotted wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae which is found in Europe, Lebanon, Israel, Turkey, Iraq and the Caucasus. The species was first described by Adrian Hardy Haworth in 1809.

<i>Mythimna straminea</i> Species of moth

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.

<i>Mythimna turca</i> Species of moth

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.

<i>Mythimna favicolor</i> Species of moth

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.

<i>Mythimna litoralis</i> Species of moth

Mythimna litoralis, the shore wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae.

<i>Mythimna obsoleta</i> Species of moth

Mythimna obsoleta, the obscure wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1803. It is found in Europe, from southern Fennoscandia to Spain, Italy and the Balkans, the European part of Russia, the Caucasus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzia, southern Siberia, Turkey, the Ural, Mongolia, the Russian Far East, the Korean Peninsula, China and Hokkaido and Honshu in Japan.

<i>Chortodes fluxa</i> Species of moth

Chortodes fluxa, the mere wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1809. It is found in Europe and east across the Palearctic to Siberia, Mongolia, and northern China. Also in northern Turkey and the Caucasus.

<i>Euxoa cursoria</i> Species of moth

Euxoa cursoria, the coast dart, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in northern and central Europe as well as the coastal regions of the British Isles, central Siberia, Mongolia, Tibet and Afghanistan. The subspecies Euxoa cursoria wirima is found in Canada.

<i>Lygephila craccae</i> Species of moth

Lygephila craccae, the scarce blackneck, is a moth of the family Erebidae. It is found in temperate Europe and across the Palearctic to the Altai Mountains, Korea, Japan and China.

<i>Agrotis trux</i> Species of moth

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.

<i>Chilodes maritimus</i> Species of moth

Chilodes maritimus, the silky wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in most of Europe including Russia.

<i>Arenostola phragmitidis</i> Species of moth

Arenostola phragmitidis, the fen wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1803. It is found in most of Europe, western Siberia, Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, Central Asia and China.

<i>Haemerosia renalis</i> Species of moth

Haemerosia renalis is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It was described by Jacob Hübner in 1813. It is found in Spain, France, Italy, Sicily, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Greece. It has also been recorded from the Near East.

References

  1. ^ The flight season refers to the British Isles. This may vary in other parts of the range.
  1. ↑ 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
  2. ↑ Hermann Hacker, László Ronkay & Márton Hreblay: Noctuidae Europaeae vol. 4 Hadeninae I. Entomological Press, Sorø 2002, ISBN 87-89430-07-7
  3. ↑ Martin C. Townsend, Jon Clifton and Brian Goodey (2010). British and Irish Moths: An Illustrated Guide to Selected Difficult Species. (covering the use of genitalia characters and other features) Butterfly Conservation.
  4. ↑ 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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