The purple-shaded gem (''Euchalcia variabilis'') 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.Lepiforum.de
/ref>

Description

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 34–42 mm. The upperside of the forewings is varied with rosy in the basal area. Also, the transversal lines are bordered with rosy. The central area is dark brown. The dark basal line is slightly curved or almost straight. The larvae is green with a black head, numerous blackish dots, a dark stripe on the back, and a yellow lateral line. This species closely resembles '' Euchalcia bellieri'', but it is quite larger.W. F. Kirby
The butterflies and moths of Europe
/ref> The moth flies from June to August depending on the location. The larvae feed from May to July on larkspur (''

Delphinium ''Delphinium'' is a genus of about 300 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, native throughout the Northern Hemisphere and also on the high mountains of tropical Africa. The genus was erected by Carl Linn ...

'' species), meadow-rue (''

Thalictrum ''Thalictrum'' () is a genus of 120-200 species of herbaceous perennial flowering plants in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, native mostly to temperate regions. Meadow-rue is a common name for plants in this genus. ''Thalictrum'' is a taxonom ...

'' species) and monkshood ('' Aconitum'' species).

Distribution and habitat

This species is found in woodlands, glades, and mountain forests of Central and Southern

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 ...

through the Southern

Ural mountains The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

north to

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

.Fauna Europaea
/ref>

References

External links

* Paolo Mazzei, Daniel Morel, Raniero Panfili

* ttp://www.dlc.fi/~peterpa/lepi/historia/plusiinae/euc-variabilis.htm Butterflies and Moths of Finland Plusiinae Moths of Europe Moths of Asia {{Plusiinae-stub