Mythimna pallens

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Common wainscot
Mythimna.pallens.jpg
Mythimna pallens1.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. pallens
Binomial name
Mythimna pallens

Mythimna pallens, the common wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae distributed throughout the Palearctic realm from Ireland in the west, through Europe (all of Russia) 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.

Contents

As with other "wainscots", this species has buffish-yellow forewings with prominent venation. The common wainscot, as the specific name suggests, is very pale, lacking the darker markings shown by most of its relatives. The hindwings are pure white.

Technical description and variation

The wingspan is 32–40 mm. Forewing yellowish ochreous, often with a rufous tinge; veins pale, defined by grey-brown streaks, and with similar streaks in the intervals; dark spots on veins 2 and 5 beyond middle; hindwing white, grey at centre, the veins dark; — ab. ectypa Hbn. Is the form in which the red tints are strongest; in arcuata Stph. the hindwing shows a complete row of dark dots on the veins. [1] See also Hacker et al. [2]

Similar species

Mythimna impura is difficult to certainly distinguish from its congeners. See Townsend et al. [3]

Figs 1, 1a, 1b larva after last moult Buckler W The larvae of the British butterflies and moths PlateLX.jpg
Figs 1, 1a, 1b larva after last moult

Biology

One or two broods are produced each year with adults on the wing at any time from June to October. The moth flies at night and is attracted to light, sugar and various flowers.

The larva is yellowish or reddish with grey irroration (sprinkling); dorsal line white, with dark edges; spiracles black, lying in a yellowish white lateral stripe, which is edged with blackish. It feeds on various grasses including Deschampsia , Festuca , Leymus , Lolium and Phalaris . [4] The species overwinters as a small larva.

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

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

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

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

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<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>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>Allophyes oxyacanthae</i> Species of moth

Allophyes oxyacanthae, the green-brindled crescent, is a moth of the family Noctuidae, found in Europe. The species was described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.

<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>Mesapamea secalis</i> Species of moth

Mesapamea secalis, the common rustic, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is found in Europe, north-west Africa, Turkey and northern Iran.

<i>Oria musculosa</i> Species of moth

The Brighton wainscot is a moth of the family Noctuidae.

References

  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.
  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.