''Hypena crassalis'', the beautiful snout, 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'') ...

. The species was first described by

Johan Christian Fabricius Johan Christian Fabricius (7 January 1745 – 3 March 1808) was a Danish zoologist, specialising in "Insecta", which at that time included all arthropods: insects, arachnids, crustaceans and others. He was a student of Carl Linnaeus, and is cons ...

in 1787. It is found in Europe.

Distribution

It is found throughout Europe except for the furthest south and north. To the east to

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

and southern

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Technical description and variation

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 25–30 mm. The length of the forewings is 14–16 mm. Forewing with basal two-thirds dark chocolate brown, limited by the pale outer line, which is oblique and concave outwards to vein 5, there strongly angled, and sinuous inwards to inner margin beyond middle, meeting on vein 1 an oblique line from base of median vein; the area below it pale with bright brown suffusion in male, chalk white with faint discoloration in female; terminal area grey in male, chalk white in female; subterminal line formed of interrupted fuscous lunules tipped with white in the male and preceded by brown suffusion; in the female merely a row of dark spots; an oblique thick brown streak from apex; a row of black terminal triangular spots; a dark dot in cell and lunule at its end; hindwing dark brownish fuscous with a ruddy tinge in male, greyish white or pale fuscous in female; the ab. ''terricularis'' Hbn. is a nearly black form of the male with a few terminal white markings.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

Biology

The moth flies in one generation from mid-May to August. The larva is green with the lines darker; feeding on ''

Vaccinium ''Vaccinium'' is a common and widespread genus of shrubs or dwarf shrubs in the heath family (Ericaceae). The fruits of many species are eaten by humans and some are of commercial importance, including the cranberry, blueberry, bilberry (whort ...

''. The species overwinters as a pupa, sometimes as a larva.

References

#''The flight season refers to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. This may vary in other parts of the range.''

External links

*
''Fauna Europaea''
* Taxonomy
''Lepiforum e.V.''''De Vlinderstichting''
crassalis Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Moths described in 1787 Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius {{Hypeninae-stub