The autumnal rustic (''Eugnorisma glareosa'') 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 species was first described by

Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper (2 June 1742 – 27 July 1810) was a German zoologist and naturalist. Born in Wunsiedel in Bavaria, he was professor of zoology at Erlangen university. Life and work Eugen and his brother Friedrich were intro ...

in 1788. It was previously placed in the genus '' Paradiarsia''. It is found in northern and western Europe and North Africa. The

forewing Insect wings are adult outgrowths of the insect exoskeleton that enable insects to fly. They are found on the second and third thoracic segments (the mesothorax and metathorax), and the two pairs are often referred to as the forewings and hindwi ...

s are usually pale grey, distinctively marked with a row of three angular black marks. The ground colour, however, is quite variable with pinkish or reddish forms occurring fairly frequently. In the north of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, including Orkney and Shetland, an almost black form occurs (some authorities regard this as a subspecies, ''E. g. edda''). The hindwings of the typical forms are white, grey in the darker forms. 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 o ...

is 32–38 mm. This species flies from the latter half of August to the first half of September and is attracted to light and heather

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

Distribution

''Eugnorisma glareosum'' is a species with an Atlantic-Mediterranean distribution, which occurs from

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

and the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

, through western and central Europe 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, ...

, southern

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, southern Sweden,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. It has expanded to the east in the last century.

Technical description and variation

Forewing pearly grey, with fine dark dusting; cell before and beyond orbicular stigma velvety black brown; subbasal and inner lines marked each by a black spot on costa and another below median vein; outer and submarginal lines pale; hindwing whitish, dusted with grey, especially in female - the form ''edda'' Stgr. occurring in the Shetland Islands is dark, with forewing red brown and the hindwing dark brown; — ''rosea'' Tutt is lilac grey suffused with rosy; - ''limbata'' Gouin, from the Gironde in France, has the forewing tinged with bluish green, and the marginal area darker than usual. FloraHildena (21)

Biology

Larva pale brown, darker along the sides; the dorsal and subdorsal lines pale, dark edged; spiracular line ochreous yellow. The

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...

feeds on a range of plants: It has been recorded on bedstraws, docks,

hawkweed ''Hieracium'' (), known by the common name hawkweed and classically as (from ancient Greek ιεράξ, 'hawk'), is a genus of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, and closely related to dandelion ('' Taraxacum''), chicory (''Cichorium'') ...

s, heather,

lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, ...

plantains Plantain may refer to: Plants and fruits * Cooking banana, banana cultivars in the genus ''Musa'' whose fruits are generally used in cooking ** True plantains, a group of cultivars of the genus ''Musa'' * ''Plantaginaceae'', a family of flowerin ...

and

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...

s as well as

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns a ...

es such as '' Poa''. This species overwinters as a very small larva.

References

Chinery, Michael Michael Chinery (born 1938, in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-e ...

''Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe'' 1986 (Reprinted 1991) * Skinner, Bernard '' The Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles'' 1984

External links

*
''Fauna Europaea''''Lepiforum e.V.''
Eugnorisma Moths described in 1788 Moths of Europe Taxa named by Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper {{Noctuinae-stub