The white-line dart (''Euxoa nigrofusca'') 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 from

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 ...

, to southern

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

, central

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. In

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 ...

it is known 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 to ...

and

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

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 28–40 mm. Colouring and pattern are extremely variable and hardly a specimen has an identical colouring and pattern. The colour varies from grey-brown to dark grey. The costa is pale and the pattern often obscure. Pale orbicular and reniform. The males have relatively short combed antennae, the female antennae are thread-like. Note that ''E. nigrofusca'' may not be a

good species In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of interest in the study of ethics, morality, ph ...

. The ''Euxoa tritici'' complex consists of five sibling species in Europe: White-linedart '' Euxoa tritici'' (Linnaeus, 1761), ''Euxoa nigrofusca'' (Esper, 1788), '' Euxoa eruta'' (Hübner, 1817), ''

Euxoa diaphora ''Euxoa'' is a genus of moths of the family Noctuidae raised to Genus by the German entomologist, Jacob Hübner. The Genus is mostly confined to dry and semi dry areas in the Northern Hemisphere. There 130 species in Eurasia, a few in Africa, an ...

'' Boursin, 1928 and ''

Euxoa segnilis ''Euxoa'' is a genus of moths of the family Noctuidae raised to Genus by the German entomologist, Jacob Hübner. The Genus is mostly confined to dry and semi dry areas in the Northern Hemisphere. There 130 species in Eurasia, a few in Africa, an ...

'' (Duponchel, 1836). Furthermore, although Fibiger (1997) treated '' Euxoa montivaga'' differently it belongs to the ''E. tritici'' complex. Differences among the species are subtle, the most important diagnostic characteristics being genitalic. In studies of three of these species, ''E. tritici'', ''E. nigrofusca'' and ''E. eruta'', no support was found for the presence of several morphologically distinguishable species with quantitative morphometric analyses.

Life-cycle

The egg is yellowish, without superficial ribs.The caterpillars are yellowish to ochre-colored with a light line on the dorsum and dark laterodorsal lines, which are slightly edged downwards. The lateral stripes are greenish-brown.The pupa is brown-yellow and has a blunt cremaster studded with two pointed thorns. Overwinters as an egg laid on the foodplant, the larvae feed at night partly subterraneous on the roots of ''

Poaceae 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 an ...

'' and a wide range of herbaceous plants such as corn spurrey (''

Spergula arvensis ''Spergula arvensis'', the corn spurry, stickwort, starwort or spurrey, is a species of plant in the genus ''Spergula''. Description Corn spurry is a summer or winter annual broadleaf plant, and its seeds buried in the soil can survive for se ...

''). This moth flies from June to October depending on the location and there is one generation per year. It can be found on heaths,

sand dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...

, cliffs and open heaty woodland.

References

External links

Funet
Taxonomy
Fauna EuropaeaVlindernet White-line Dart at UKmoths

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1146052 Euxoa Moths described in 1761 Moths of Africa Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Moths of the Middle East Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus