Orthosia gracilis

Last updated

Orthosia gracilis
Orthosia gracilis.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Orthosia
Species:
O. gracilis
Binomial name
Orthosia gracilis
Synonyms
  • Phalaena (Noctua) gracilis[Schiffermüller], 1775
  • Phalaena (Noctua) lepidaBrahm, 1791
  • Bombyx sparsusHaworth, 1803

Orthosia gracilis, the powdered Quaker, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in all of Europe except the extreme north and south, then east across the Palearctic to Northern Asia and Central Asia. O. g. pallidior (Staudinger, 1888) is described from Xinjiang in China.

Contents

Caterpillar Orthosia gracilis larva.JPG
Caterpillar

Technical description and variation

The wingspan is 35–40 mm. Forewing in male pale grey or ochreous grey, in female dark grey, generally more or less irrorated with dark grey; orbicular and reniform stigmata with pale outlines, filled up with grey, the lower half of reniform dark grey; outer line marked by black dots on veins, the inner mostly obsolete; submarginal line ochreous or rufous, sometimes preceded by a dark shade; hindwing in male whitish, becoming grey towards termen, and blackish immediately before the pale fringe, in female wholly grey; - pallida Stph. is a whitish form with hardly any dusting; - in rosea Tutt the ground colour is flesh coloured; - rufescens Cockll is red-brown; - the Japanese form ella Btlr.[now a full species Orthosia ella ] differs only in being more strongly marked, sometimes with a red-brown flush. [1]

Biology

Adults are on wing from April to May.

Larva bluish green; dorsal and subdorsallines whitish; spiracular line white, black-edged above; spiracles white with black rings. The larvae feed on Myrica gale and Salix species (including Salix repens and Salix caprea ). Other recorded food plants include Thalictrum flavum , Thalictrum aquilegiifolium , Ribes nigrum , Ribes rubrum , Rubus idaeus , Filipendula ulmaria , Malus domestica , Cotoneaster , Prunus cerasus , Prunus padus , Trifolium pratense , Lysimachia vulgaris , Artemisia absinthium , Artemisia vulgaris , Cirsium arvense and Taraxacum vulgare . [2]

Related Research Articles

Setaceous Hebrew character Species of moth

The setaceous Hebrew character 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 the Palearctic realm. It is a common species throughout Europe and North Asia and Central Asia, South Asia, China, Japan and Korea. It is also found in North America, from coast to coast across Canada and the northern United States to western Alaska. It occurs in the Rocky Mountains from Montana to southern Arizona and New Mexico. In the east, it ranges from Maine to North Carolina. It has recently been recorded in Tennessee.

Dot moth Species of moth

The dot moth is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1761. It is a very distinctive species with very dark brown, almost black, forewings marked with a large white stigma from which the species gets its common name. The hindwings are grey with a dark band at the termen. The wingspan is 38–50 mm. It flies at night in July and August and is attracted to light, sugar and flowers.

Common Quaker 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.

Hebrew character Species of moth

The Hebrew character is a moth in the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is found throughout Europe.

<i>Agrochola lota</i> Species of moth

Agrochola lota, the red-line Quaker, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Alexander Clerck in 1759. It is distributed throughout the whole of Europe except Scandinavia; in Armenia, Asia Minor, and east across the Palearctic to the Altai mountains and western Siberia.It was introduced to Newfoundland. In the Alps, it rises at altitudes of just over 1500 metres.

<i>Orthosia incerta</i> Species of moth

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.

<i>Orthosia cruda</i> Species of moth

Orthosia cruda, the small Quaker, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in Europe, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey, the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, Kazakhstan, Israel, Lebanon, Cyprus and Jordan.

<i>Xylocampa areola</i> Species of moth

The Early Grey(Xylocampa areola) is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in Europe and Morocco.

<i>Polia bombycina</i> Species of moth

Polia bombycina is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in the Palearctic realm from Ireland to Japan including the Russian Far East and Siberia.

<i>Polychrysia moneta</i> Species of moth

Polychrysia moneta, the golden plusia, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in the Palearctic realm.

<i>Agrochola macilenta</i> Species of moth

Agrochola macilenta, the yellow-line Quaker, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1809. It is found in Europe and in Asia Minor.

<i>Catocala electa</i> Species of moth

Catocala electa, the rosy underwing, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Karl Friedrich Vieweg in 1790. It can be found in Europe and Asia.

<i>Actebia praecox</i> Species of moth

Actebia praecox, the Portland moth, 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 northern and central Europe, the Caucasus, central Asia, Siberia, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, the Kuriles, northern Turkey, Mongolia, China, Korea and Japan.

<i>Agrochola litura</i> Species of moth

Agrochola litura, the brown-spot pinion, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1761. It is found in Europe and the Middle East. It is possibly also present in North Africa, but this is unclear because similar looking species Agrochola meridionalis is found there.

<i>Orthosia opima</i> Species of moth

Orthosia opima, the northern drab, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1809. It is found from central and northern Europe east to central Asia. In the west and north it is found from France through Great Britain up to southern Fennoscandia, south from the Alps up to the Balkans.

<i>Graphiphora augur</i> Species of moth

Graphiphora augur, the double dart or soothsayer, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775. It is found in all of Canada and most of the northern parts of the United States, south in the west to California and New Mexico. It is also found throughout Eurasia, from the British Isles and Scandinavia to Siberia and Japan.

<i>Lithophane socia</i> Species of moth

Lithophane socia, the pale pinion, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is found throughout western Europe from Spain to central Scandinavia then east across the Palearctic to Siberia, the Russian Far East and Japan.

<i>Celaena haworthii</i> Species of moth

Celaena haworthii, or Haworth's minor, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by John Curtis in 1829. It is found from the British Isles and France through northern Europe including Scandinavia, east to the Urals and across the Palearctic to Siberia and up to the Pacific Ocean.

<i>Cucullia artemisiae</i> Species of moth

Cucullia artemisiae, or scarce wormwood, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is found from central and southern Europe to Turkey and across the Palearctic to western Siberia, Central Asia, Manchuria, the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

<i>Mniotype adusta</i> Species of moth

Mniotype adusta, the dark brocade, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It was described by Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper in 1790. It is found throughout much of the Palearctic from Europe to Japan, China and Mongolia. It is also found in North America. The habitat consists of heathland, chalky downland, fenland, moorland and upland areas.

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. "Robinson, G. S., P. R. Ackery, I. J. Kitching, G. W. Beccaloni & L. M. Hernández, 2010. HOSTS - A Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants. Natural History Museum, London".