''Chortodes morrisii'', or Morris's wainscot, 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 found in western and southern Europe. In Britain it is limited to

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

and

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

, while the form ''bondii'', previously occurring in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, is thought to be extinct.

Technical description and variation

''A. morrisii'' Dale Larger than (''

Photedes extrema ''Photedes extrema'', the concolorous, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1809. It is found in most of Europe (except Iceland, Ireland, the Iberian Peninsula, Norway, Italy, Bulgaria and Greece ...

''), chalk white, with faint grey dusting towards termen in the males; a curved series of black vein spots represents the outer line; no marginal spots; hindwing dark grey, paler in female; the fringe white; the abdomen is longer and thinner, the pectus and palpi smoother, less woolly, than in ''extrema''. 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 26–34 mm.

Biology

The moth flies in June and July. The larvae feed on stems of tall fescue (''

Festuca arundinacea ''Festuca arundinacea'' ( syn., ''Schedonorus arundinaceus'' and ''Lolium arundinaceum'') is a species of grass commonly known as tall fescue. It is a cool-season perennial C3 species of bunchgrass native to Europe. It is an important forage gr ...

''). Wikisource:The Moths of the British Isles/Chapter 15#301

Subspecies

*''Chortodes morrisii morrisii'' *''Chortodes morrisii sohnretheli'' ( Püngeler, 1907) (Italy, named in honour of

Otto Sohn-Rethel Otto Wilhelm Sohn-Rethel (1877–1949) German Lepidopterology, lepidopterist and a painter of the Düsseldorf school of painting art movement. Sohn-Rethel was a member of the art groups, Sonderbund westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler, Sonderb ...

) *''Chortodes morrisii bondii'' (named after

Frederick Bond Frederick Bond (22 February 1811 – 10 August 1889) was an English naturalist who was one of the founders of the journal ''The Zoologist''. He was a fellow of the Zoological Society of London, the Linnean Society of London and the Entomological S ...

)

References

Noctuidae Moths described in 1837 Moths of Europe {{Noctuidae-stub