''Clytie illunaris'' 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

Erebidae The Erebidae are a family of moths in the superfamily Noctuoidea. The family is among the largest families of moths by species count and contains a wide variety of well-known macromoth groups. The family includes the underwings ('' Catocala'') ...

first described by

Jacob Hübner Jacob Hübner (20 June 1761 – 13 September 1826, in Augsburg) was a German entomologist. He was the author of ''Sammlung Europäischer Schmetterlinge'' (1796–1805), a founding work of entomology. Scientific career Hübner was the author of '' ...

in 1813. It is found in

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 ...

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 ...

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

and the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...

Technical description and variation

''Clytie illunaris'' Hbn. (= ''gracilis'' B.-Haas.) (62 b). Forewing grey, or dark ash grey, or, more rarely, pale bone colour; inner and outer lines blackish, very seldom clear, often interrupted, or even altogether absent; submarginal line pale, only visible in the dark grey examples, always preceded by a black irregularly zigzag line, not reaching costa but blackest below it; orbicular stigma a faint dark dot; reniform a pale figure of 8, often divided into two spots; hindwing pale grey or bone colour, with a broad diffuse grey submarginal band, always darker and better defined in the female; the pale bone colour forms may be separated as ab. ''ossea'' ab. nov. (= ab. 2 Hmps.) (62 b); in ab. ''brunnea'' ab. nov. (= ab. 1 Hmps.) the ground colour of forewing is brown, the markings equally obsolete; while in ab. ''obscura'' ab. nov. (= ab. 3 Hmps.) the forewing, except at base of inner margin, is suffused with red brown, the subterminal line alone being visible. 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

Subspecies

*''Clytie illunaris illunaris'' *''Clytie illunaris legraini''

Biology

There are multiple generations per year. The larvae feed on ''

Tamarix The genus ''Tamarix'' (tamarisk, salt cedar, taray) is composed of about 50–60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa. The generic name originated in Latin and may refer to the Tam ...

'' species, including ''

Tamarix gallica ''Tamarix gallica'', the French tamarisk, is a deciduous, herbaceous, twiggy shrub or small tree reaching up to about 5 meters high. It is indigenous to Saudi Arabia and the Sinai Peninsula, and very common around the Mediterranean region. It i ...

''.

References

External links

*
''Lepiforum e.V.''
Ophiusina Moths described in 1813 Moths of Europe Moths of Africa Moths of the Middle East Taxa named by Jacob Hübner {{Catocalini-stub