Satellite (moth)

Last updated

Satellite
Eupsilia transversa01.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Eupsilia
Species:
E. transversa
Binomial name
Eupsilia transversa
(Hufnagel, 1766)

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.

Contents

Illustration from John Curtis's British Entomology Volume 5 Britishentomologyvolume5Plate635.jpg
Illustration from John Curtis's British Entomology Volume 5
Larva Eupsilia transversa larva.jpg
Larva

This is a fairly variable species with greyish or reddish-brown forewings, often marked with darker bands. The common name derives from the prominent stigma ranging in colour from white or yellow to red, which has two smaller spots close to it, appearing to be in orbit. The hindwings are brown with a paler fringe. The wingspan is 40–48 mm. This species flies at night from September to April [lower-alpha 1] and is active on mild nights throughout the winter. It will come to light but is more strongly attracted to sugar and various flowers.

Distribution

The species ranges from Ireland to Japan. Specifically, south to northern Spain, Sardinia, central Italy then North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Asia Minor and the Caucasus east to Central Asia and the Russian Far East and Siberia before reaching Japan. In the north, the geographical presence extends to Scotland and the Orkney Islands. Individuals have been reported in Iceland. In Fennoscandia, the range extends close to the Arctic Circle and includes northern Russia. The species is very tolerant to cold temperatures and has a very varied habitat – including open grasslands, forests, mountains (up to 1800 m in the Alps), and subarctic tundra.

Technical description and variation

Forewing grey brown, with deeper suffusion; inner and outer lines fine, and more or less erect, the inner straight, the outer waved; a bent median shade, one before the inner line, and another close beyond the outer; submarginal line pale, interrupted, preceded and followed by dark shades; claviform and orbicular stigmata obsolete; reniform in the type form orange yellow, with a white dot above and below it; fringe concolorous, preceded by pale marginal lunules; hindwing fuscous brown. Linne's type form, showing a yellow reniform with two white dots, especially in combination with the grey-brown ground colour, is decidedly rare; as a rule, when the reniform is yellow, the tendency is for the upper, and often the lower also, of the two dots to become yellow also; when all three spots are deep reddish orange we have the form brunnea Lampa; albipuncta Strand is the form with white reniform, in which the dots also are always white; the term rufescens Tutt, in which the ground colour is more or less rufous tinged, would apply to the more ordinary European form as well as to the British. [1]

Biology

The larva usually feeds on trees and shrubs (see list below) but has also been recorded on dandelions and also frequently eats the larvae of other species. [2]

Recorded food plants

See Robinson, G. S. et al. [3]

Notes

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

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pine beauty</span> Species of moth

The pine beauty is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is a common species of pine woods in Europe. The distribution area extends from the west of Catalonia over southern France, central Italy, central Europe to western Siberia, the Caucasus and Asia Minor. In the north it extends to the Arctic Circle, in the south it is found on the northern Iberian Peninsula and southern Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garden dart</span> Species of moth

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.

<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.

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

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Straw underwing</span> Species of moth

The straw underwing is a moth of 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.

<i>Apamea monoglypha</i> Species of moth

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.

<i>Apamea crenata</i> Species of moth

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.

<i>Globia sparganii</i> Species of moth

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.

<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>Atethmia centrago</i> Species of moth

Atethmia centrago, the centre-barred sallow, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Adrian Hardy Haworth in 1809. It is found in Europe except Scandinavia and Italy; also in Asia Minor, Armenia, Syria and Palestine.

<i>Caradrina morpheus</i> Species of moth

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.

<i>Pyrrhia umbra</i> Species of moth

Pyrrhia umbra, the bordered sallow, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is found in all of Europe, east through Anatolia to Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nepal and through central Asia to Japan. In mountains it can be found up to elevations of 1,600 meters.

<i>Xanthia togata</i> Species of moth

Xanthia togata, the pink-barred sallow, is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. It is a Holarctic species, and is found throughout Europe and east through the Palearctic to Central Asia, and Siberia up to the Ussuri. The distribution area includes the United States and Canada. It was first described by the German entomologist Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper in 1788 from the type specimen in Germany

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

Euxoa obelisca, the square-spot dart, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in the Palearctic realm.

<i>Xanthia gilvago</i> Species of moth

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.

<i>Conistra rubiginea</i> Species of moth

Conistra rubiginea, the dotted chestnut, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is distributed in Europe and, according to William Warren, Armenia and 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>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>Agrotis vestigialis</i> Species of moth

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.

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

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.

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. ↑ Kimber, Ian. "73.210 BF2256 The Satellite Eupsilia transversa (Hufnagel, 1766)". UKMoths. Retrieved 5 July 2019.
  3. ↑ 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.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.