Acronicta euphorbiae

Acronicta euphorbiae
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Acronicta
Species: A. cuspis
Binomial name
Acronicta euphorbiae
(Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775)

The sweet gale moth (Acronicta euphorbiae) is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is distributed through parts of the Palearctic South of a line that is across southern Poland, from northern Scotland, Northeastern Netherlands/border with North-Western Germany, southeastward through the northern Czech Republic, the Ukraine and southern Russia to the Ural mountains.[1]

Sweet gale moth larva
See glossary for terms used

The wingspan is 32–40 mm. Forewing grey dusted with darker; orbicular stigma close beyond inner line; hindwing white in male, fuscous in female with pale cilia. The ab. montivaga Guen. is a mountain form, with darker, bluer grey forewings, occurring in the Alps and in Norway.- ab. myricae Guen. , occurring in the Scotch and Irish mountains is still darker, with narrower, more pointed forewings, but not smaller as Staudinger states- ab. euphrasiae Brahm which appears to be the commoner form in France and S. W. Europe, is paler than the type and more luteous; - lastly, ab. esulae. Hbn. is a quite, small form, with the markings obscured.[2]

The adults fly at night from May to June .

The larva feed on a wide range of plants.[3]

Prefers warm, sunny slopes, grassy heaths and forests. In the Alps, they rise up to over 2500 metres above sea level.

Similar species


Notes

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

References

  1. ↑ Walter Forster und Theodor Wohlfahrt: Die Schmetterlinge Mitteleuropas, Band IV, Eulen. Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1971
  2. ↑ 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
  3. ↑ "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.".
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External links

Further reading