''Lygephila craccae'', the scarce blackneck, 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'') ...

. It is found in temperate

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 ...

and across the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

to the

Altai Mountains The Altai Mountains (), also spelled Altay Mountains, are a mountain range in Central Asia, Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan converge, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob River, Ob have their headwaters. The m ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Technical description and variation

''O. craccae'' F. Larger than '' viciae''. Forewing darker grey, with a slaty violet tinge, striated and dusted with darker; the veins pale; costal spots blackish; lines very faint, except the paler subterminal, and that often only shown by the darker shade preceding it ; hindwing paler, sometimes with a yellowish tinge, with a smoky fuscous terminal border; — ab. ''immaculata'' Stgr., like ''caecula'' Stgr., the aberration of ''viciae'', has no black edging to the reniform stigma and the costal spots paler; — subsp. ''laevigata'' subsp. nov. arren from the South Tyrol, is large, with the forewing uniformly slate coloured, and without darker dusting or striation; in a female from Uralsk, received from M. Bartel, subsp. ''grisea'' subsp. nov. arren the forewing has the costal spots prominently black, the inner and outer lines dark fuscous and distinct, the space between them and the terminal area both dark grey, contrasting strongly with the paler basal area and pale outward edging of the outer line ; the reniform stigma has the inner edge finely black, but is filled up with the dark grey of the median area, its outer edge being represented by two or three black points only ; the pale veins show up distinctly in the dark grey suffusion; the hindwing is wholly dark fuscous; the example is only as large as average ''viciae'' ,and may be specifically distinct; two other forms appear to require a distinctive name; ab. ''brunnea'' ab. nov., instead of the typical grey ground colour, is brown, sometimes with a rufous tinge; while subsp. ''lutosa'' subsp. nov. arrenfrom the South of France, is luteous grey in the forewing and luteous ochreous in the hindwing. Larva pale yellowish grey; dorsal stripe broad, grey brown, divided by a fine dark brown line with pale edges;on the sides of segments 5, 6, 7, and 10 an oblique blackish streak; on segment 12 a triangular yellowish white blotch; a brown shading below the spiracles. 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

*''Lygephila craccae craccae'' *?''Lygephila craccae grisea'' *?''Lygephila craccae laevigata'' *''Lygephila craccae riata'' *?''Lygephila craccae centralasiae''

Biology

There is one generation per year depending on the location. Adults are on wing in early summer. The larvae feed on '' Vicia'', '' Coronilla'', '' Astragalus'' and ''

Lathyrus ''Lathyrus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae, and contains approximately 160 species. Commonly known as peavines or vetchlings, they are native to temperate areas, with a breakdown of 52 species in Europe, 30 species ...

'' species.

References

External links

Scarce blackneck on UKmothsFauna EuropaeaLepiforum.de
Toxocampina Insects of Korea Moths of Japan Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Moths of the Middle East Moths described in 1775 Taxa named by Michael Denis Taxa named by Ignaz Schiffermüller {{Catocalini-stub