The marbled beauty (''Cryphia domestica'') 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 ...

. The species was first described by

Johann Siegfried Hufnagel Johann Siegfried Hufnagel (17 October 1724, Uckerfelde, Falkenwalde, Prenzlau district, Brandenburg – 23 February 1795, Langenfeld, Sternberg district) was a German parson and entomologist (lepidopterist). Life Until the late 20th century nothing ...

in 1766. It is an abundant species throughout most of Europe east to the

Urals 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 European ...

, and it is probably the most common

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Palearctic realm 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 ...

. This is quite a small species with a

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 ...

of 22–30 mm. The forewings are white with dark grey cryptic markings, giving excellent camouflage against the

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

are laid. The intensity of the markings vary considerably, with darker individuals predominating in urban areas, an example of

industrial melanism Industrial melanism is an evolutionary effect prominent in several arthropods, where dark pigmentation (melanism) has evolved in an environment affected by industrial pollution, including sulphur dioxide gas and dark soot deposits. Sulphur diox ...

. A significant proportion of individuals also have orange or yellow markings. The hindwings are whitish with a broad grey band at the margin. The adults fly at night in July and August and are attracted to light.

Distribution

It is found across Europe, where it occurs as far south as

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

and in the north to

Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...

. The eastern distribution is uncertain but it may reach central Asia. It rises over 2000 metres above sea level in the Alps.

Technical description

Forewing cream white with slaty-grey markings; orbicular and claviform (club shaped) stigmata confluent forming a figure of eight; hindwing whitish grey with cell spot and outer line dark grey. The species varies in opposite directions; either the dark scales of forewing are more or less obsolete and the wing is overrun with yellow scaling ab. ''lutescens'' Fuchs or the wing becomes wholly suffused with the dark tints ab. ''suffusa'' Tutt; the dark specimens from the Pyrenees, referred here by Staudinger, are blacker than the very darkest British specimens, the whole hindwing being blackish also; in ab. ''distincta'' Tutt the ground colour is white, the discoidal spots dark grey; four short dark dashes on costa at centre and a shade near apex, a short basal streak and a shade beneath the orbicular stigma are the only markings. The

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

is bluish grey with orange markings along the back. It feeds exclusively on lichens such as ''

Lecidea ''Lecidea'' is a genus of crustose lichens with a carbon black ring or outer margin ( exciple) around the fruiting body disc (apothecium), usually (or always) found growing on (saxicolous) or in (endolithic An endolith or endolithic is an or ...

'' and ''

Xanthoria ''Xanthoria'' is a genus of lichenized fungi in the family Teloschistaceae. Common names include orange lichen,British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

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

References

* *

External links

*
"''Bryophila'' (''Bryophila'') ''domestica'' (Hufnagel, 1766)"
''Fauna Europaea''.
"08816 ''Bryophila domestica'' (Hufnagel, 1766) - Weißliche Flechteneule"
''Lepiforum e. V.'' Cryphia Moths described in 1766 Moths of Europe Taxa named by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel {{Bryophilinae-stub