''Athetis hospes'', or Porter's rustic, 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 ...

which was described by Christian Friedrich Freyer in 1835. It is found in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, southern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, on the

Balkan Peninsula The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and northern

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. The species seems to be expanding its range in north-western Europe with records from

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Technical description and variation

''P. hospes'' Frr. (= ''uliginosa'' H.-Sch. nec Bsd., ''lepigone'' Roesel nec Moeschl.). Forewing glossy ochreous washed with rufous, the veins grey dotted with dark; lines obscure; the inner waved, toothed with black points inwards on the veins; outer line dentate lunulate with black and grey points on the veins; orbicular a blackish point; reniform a small dark lunule, from which an ochreous streak runs to termen above vein 5; terminal spots black; hindwing whitish with the apical area brownish; the tufts of hair on tibiae and abdomen yellow. Larva greyish yellow, whitish beneath; dorsal line whitish; subdorsal and spiracular lines redbrown;spiracles yellow ringed with black; head brown. 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 26–30 mm.

Biology

Adults are on wing from May to June and again from August to September. The larvae feed on various low-growing plants, including

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

. The species overwinters as full-grown larvae in the soil. They are

gregarious Sociality is the degree to which individuals in an animal population tend to associate in social groups (gregariousness) and form cooperative societies. Sociality is a survival response to evolutionary pressures. For example, when a mother wasp ...

in the first

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or ass ...

. Later instars make galleries in the stalks and holes in the leaves. Pupation takes place below ground near the host plantBiology of ''Athetis hospes'' (Freyer 1831), in Campania (Lepidoptera Noctuidae Amphipyrinae)
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References

External links

''Athetis hospes'' on European Butterflies and MothsLepiforum.de
Acronictinae Moths described in 1831 Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Taxa named by Christian Friedrich Freyer {{Acronictinae-stub