''Acronicta strigosa'', the marsh dagger, is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

of the family

Noctuidae The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family of moths. They are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly changing, along with the other f ...

. It is distributed through most of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, east to the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

, northern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Technical description and variation

''A. strigosa'' F. (= ''favillacea'' Esp.) (3e). Forewing pale grey, tinged with ochreous; base of inner margin yellow: reniform stigma externally yellowish; a broken black streak along submedian fold. Larva velvety green, with broad redbrown dorsal band; hairs scattered and fine; dorsum humped on segment 12; like the larva of ''Cerura'' , which it resembles superficially in colour and ornamentation, it changes from green to dull purplish before spinning up; fullfed in autumn; on hawthorn, which is its only foodplant in Britain, though continental writers give sloe and ''Rhamnus''. — ab. ''bryophiloides'' Horm. (— ''casparii'' Steinert) (3 e) is a smaller form with the forewings wholly dark grey. -- Japanese specimens are considerably larger than European and much darker; the stigmata more strongly indicated, and the black dashes thicker; they may be distinguished as ''adaucta'' subsp. nov. (3e). 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, 1914 The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is approximately 32 mm. The caterpillars appear in two colour variants, either green with a brown back or completely brown. They have few short, fine hairs. The slender pupa is light brown colored. The cremaster is short and equipped with thorns.

Biology

''A. strigosa'' is found in floodplain forests as well as stream and river valleys with high humidity, and in moderately warm climates. In the Alps, they do not rise above 1200 metres. The adults fly in June and July. They are attracted to light. The larvae feed mainly on

hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

and sometimes

blackthorn ''Prunus spinosa'', called blackthorn or sloe, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family Rosaceae. The species is native to Europe, western Asia, and regionally in northwest Africa. It is locally naturalized in New Zealand, Tasmania, ...

Notes

#''The flight season refers to the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

. This may vary in other parts of the range.''

References

External links

Fauna EuropaeaLepiforum.de Schmetterlinge-deutschlands.deUK Moths
Acronicta Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Moths described in 1775 Taxa named by Michael Denis Taxa named by Ignaz Schiffermüller {{Acronictinae-stub