Lunar underwing

The lunar underwing (Omphaloscelis lunosa) is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Adrian Hardy Haworth in 1809. It has a scattered distribution in western Europe including Spain, Scandinavia and Algeria.

Illustration from John Curtis's British Entomology Volume 5

Lunar underwing
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Omphaloscelis
Species:
O. lunosa
Binomial name
Omphaloscelis lunosa
(Haworth, 1809)

This is a variable species, the forewings ranging from pale buff to dark brown although the paler forms are generally more common. The forewings are usually marked with two dark stigmata and a black streak near the apex. The hindwings are whitish marked with a dark moon-shaped crescent on the hindwing is partially diagnostic and which gives the moth its English name.

Description

The wingspan is 32–38 mm. Forewing varying from pale greyish ochreous to rufous and dark purple brown, the veins generally pale; upper stigmata distinct and filled up with dark, with distinct pale outlines; inner and outer lines double with paler centres, the inner obliquely curved out, the outer simply sinuous; submarginal line pale, preceded by a row of dark spots, and on costa by a black blotch or bar; hindwing whitish, suffused with grey, especially in the female, with large grey cell spot and interrupted submarginal band. The type form is dull red without pale veins; the red forms with pale veins are ab. rufa Tutt;the palest form of all is obsoleta Tutt without pale nervures; a somewhat darker, more brownish form, with the veins pale is humilis H. & Wwd.; brunnea Tutt has the ground colour deep red-brown with pale veins; in subjecta Dup. it is dark grey brown, the extreme development of which, agrotoides Guen., is blackish grey; — olivacea Vasq., from Spain, has the forewing pale olive ochreous, and rubra Vasq., also from Spain, has it pale reddish ochreous. .[1]

Biology

This moth flies at night from August to October and is attracted to light and flowers.

The larva feeds on all parts of various grasses, overwintering in this form.

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

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
  • Chinery, Michael (1991). Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe.
  • Skinner, Bernard (1984). The Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles.
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