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Drymonia ruficornis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Drymonia ruficornis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Notodontidae
Genus: Drymonia
Species:
D. ruficornis
Binomial name
Drymonia ruficornis
(Hufnagel, 1766)

Drymonia ruficornis, the lunar marbled brown, is a moth of the family Notodontidae. It is found in Central and Southern Europe and Anatolia.

Caterpillar

Description

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The wingspan is 35–40 mm. The fore wings are dark fuscous, almost blackish, with a short white line near the base; the central third is white clouded with the ground colour and limited by white edged black wavy lines. There is a black crescent just above the centre of the wing. Hind wings smoky grey with a pale curved line. Drymonia dodonaea is very similar.

Technical description

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Thorax greyish brown to light grey, abdomen light. brown. Forewing dark grey-brown, the dark pre-and postdiscal zigzag bands as in querna but closer together, particularly at the hind margin, edged with white on the proximal and distal sides respectively; the median area between the transverse bands paler grey, bearing a sharp black luniform discal spot ; in the marginal area a whitish undulate line, which is frequently obsolete. Hindwing light grey-brown. In the southern districts, from southern Central Europe southward, a uniformly darker form predominates, grisea Turati (45e), m which the median area of the forewing is also darkened. Another form, which we call ab.lunula.nov . (45e), is intermediate between grisea and true chaonia [ruficornis] ; the whitish colour is restricted to the outer half of the median area beyond the cell and usually interrupted in the centre into a costal and a hindmarginal patch. This aberration likewise belongs to the southern districts. . Egg green. Larva pale green, with 4 equidistant chrome-yellow longitudinal lines, of which the 2 dorsal ones are sometimes whitish, the lateral ones on a level with the black-edged spiracles. Pupa black-brown with lighter segmental incisions; in the ground in a cell lined with silk. [1]

Biology

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The moth flies from April to June depending on the location.

The larvae feed on oak.[2]

References

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  1. ^ Seitz, A., 1913, in Seitz, Gross-Schmett. Erde 6: 22., The Macrolepidoptera of the Palearctic Fauna 2. Volume: The Palearctic Bombyces & Sphinges. pdf Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  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".

Further reading

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  • South R. (1907) The Moths of the British Isles, (First Series), Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd., London & NY: 359 pp. online (as chaonia (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775))
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