Sycamore (moth)

Last updated

Sycamore
Acronicta aceris FvL.jpg
Acronicta.aceris.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Acronicta
Species:
A. aceris
Binomial name
Acronicta aceris

The sycamore (Acronicta aceris) 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 distributed through most of Europe, from central England south to Morocco. To the east it is found from the Near East and Middle East to western Asia.

Contents

The forewings of this species are pale to dark grey with rather indistinct markings apart from a thin black basal streak. The hindwings are white, sometimes with dark streaks at the margin. The wingspan is 40–45 mm.

Technical description and variation

A. a. taurica Acronicta taurica.JPG
A. a. taurica
Caterpillar Acronicta aceris caterpillar - Keila.jpg
Caterpillar

Forewing whitish grey; basal streak thin and interrupted: a black streak through outer line on submedian fold; hindwing white in male, greyish in female, the veins blackish. — ab. infuscata Haw. (2f) has the whole forewing dark suffused grey. - ab. candelisequa Esp., to which Staudinger wrongly sinks infuscata, seems, from the figure, to be intermediate between it and the type, if it belong here at all: ab. intermedia Tutt (= candelisequa Gn. nec Esp.) is the common British form, with forewing darker, tinged with ochreous, and more distinct markings; ab. judaea Stgr. from Palestine is paler, the forewing greyish white. Larva with diffuse tufts of long yellow or fulvous hairs; a dorsal series of snow white, purple-edged, diamond-shaped spots, sometimes united by a white line: head black. [1]

Biology

The adults fly at night from June to August [lower-alpha 1] and are attracted to light and sugar.

The extraordinary larva is very distinctive, thickly covered with very long yellow and orange hairs with white spots outlined in black along the back. It feeds on various maples and also on common horse-chestnut, large-leaved lime, mulberry and pedunculate oak. The species overwinters as a pupa. Contrary to its bright colours, it is not poisonous, but may cause skin irritation if handled excessively.

Subspecies

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">Flame shoulder</span> Species of moth

The flame shoulder is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1761. It is distributed throughout the Palearctic from Ireland in the west to Siberia then Korea and Japan in the east.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Square-spot rustic</span> Species of moth

The square-spot rustic is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in Europe, North Africa and east across the Palearctic and in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bright-line brown-eye</span> Species of moth

The bright-line brown-eye 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 a common species throughout Europe, but is also found in North Africa, temperate North Asia and Central Asia, Asia Minor, Syria, and Turkestan, northern India, China, Korea and Japan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hebrew character</span> 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>Mythimna impura</i> Species of moth

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.

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

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.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minor shoulder-knot</span> Species of moth

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poplar grey</span> Species of moth

The poplar grey is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found throughout Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miller (moth)</span> Species of moth

The miller is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found throughout Europe apart from the far south-east. The range extends from the South of Spain, Central Italy and Bulgaria to Scotland and Central Scandinavia, crossing the Arctic circle in Finland and Norway. Outside Europe it is only known in North Africa. In the Eastern Palearctic and the Nearctic realm it is replaced by Acronicta vulpina, formerly known as Acronicta leporina subspecies vulpina.

<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 remissa</i> Species of moth

Apamea remissa, the dusky brocade, is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. It is distributed throughout Europe and Turkey, ranging across the Palearctic realm to Siberia, Manchuria and Japan. It has also been reported from Alaska.

<i>Acronicta euphorbiae</i> Species of moth

Acronicta euphorbiae, the sweet gale moth, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775.

<i>Calliteara pudibunda</i> Species of moth

Calliteara pudibunda, the pale tussock, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The Dutch common name for the moth (Meriansborstel) comes from the butterfly and insect painter Maria Sibylla Merian. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is found in Asia and Europe.

<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 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>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>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>Calophasia platyptera</i> Species of moth

Calophasia platyptera, the antirrhinum brocade, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper in 1788. It is found in Europe, the Near East, the western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

<i>Sideridis turbida</i> Species of moth

Sideridis turbida, the white colon, is a moth of the family Noctuidae, subfamily Hadeninae. It is found throughout continental Europe, the British Isles and southern Scandinavia.

References

  1. Warren. W. in 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, 1914PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .