''Mniotype adusta'', the dark brocade, 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 was described by

Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper (2 June 1742 – 27 July 1810) was a German zoologist and naturalist. Born in Wunsiedel in Bavaria, he was professor of zoology at Erlangen university. Life and work Eugen and his brother Friedrich were intro ...

in 1790. It is found throughout much of 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 ...

from Europe to

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 ...

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 ...

and

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, ...

. It is also found in North America. The habitat consists of heathland, chalky downland, fenland, moorland and upland areas.

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 42–48 mm. Forewing rufous-brown clouded with darker; the veins black dotted with white; a slight black mark below base of cell, and a short black streak from inner margin near base; inner and outer lines blackish, double, forming black white-tipped teeth on the veins; claviform stigma blackish, acute, lying on a black streak joining the two lines; orbicular and reniform reddish grey edged with black, the reniform with some whitish in outer half; submarginal line white preceded by black wedge-shaped marks; hindwing of male whitish with the termen grey; the cellspot and veins dark; much greyer in female. Of general occurrence throughout Europe and in Asia found in Armenia, Asia Minor, W. and E. Siberia, W. and E. Turkestan and Tibet; - the form ''vulturina'' Frr., from S. Russia, has the forewing darker and variegated with white; - ''duplex'' Haw. is also a dark but unicolorous form, occurring in Scotland and the North of England; - ''sylvatica'' Bell is a grey, obscurely marked, insect without brownish tinge, from Corsica; - ''septentrionalis'' Hoffm. is a small black form from Finland, the Baltic provinces and the Ural Mts., of which ''moesta'' Stgr. from

Dauria Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia ( rus, Забайка́лье, r=Zabaykalye, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲjɪ), or Dauria (, ''Dauriya'') is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" (trans-) Lake Baikal in Far Eastern Russia. The steppe an ...

is possibly a synonym; - ''vicina'' Alph. from Central Asia is paler, more violet brown, with the markings clearly expressed; ''anilis'' Bsd. is whitish, thickly dusted with black, with no trace of red-brown tinge.

Subspecies

*''Mniotype adusta adjuncta'' (Moore, 1881) (Nepal, Tibet, Pakistan, northern India) *''Mniotype adusta grisescens'' (Standfuss, 1893) (Corsica) *''Mniotype adusta moesta'' (Staudinger, 1898) (Russia) *''Mniotype adusta urupino'' (Bryk, 1942) (Kuriles) *''Mniotype adusta vicina'' (Alphéraky, 1882) (Mongolia, Turkmenistan, Tadjikistan, China) *''Mniotype adusta virgata'' (Tutt, 1892) (Shetland Islands)

Biology

Adults are on wing from May to July.UKmoths
/ref> Larva grey green, suffused dorsally with reddish, with many small fine streaks; dorsal and subdorsal lines dark; spiracular line pale, whitish or yellowish; head greenish ochreous. The larvae feed on ''

Sedum telephium ''Hylotelephium telephium'' ( synonym ''Sedum telephium''), known as orpine, livelong, frog's-stomach, harping Johnny, life-everlasting, live-forever, midsummer-men, Orphan John and witch's moneybags, is a succulent perennial groundcover of th ...

'', ''

Calluna vulgaris ''Calluna vulgaris'', common heather, ling, or simply heather, is the sole species in the genus ''Calluna'' in the flowering plant family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing evergreen shrub growing to tall, or rarely to and taller, and is found wid ...

'', ''

Vaccinium uliginosum ''Vaccinium uliginosum'' (bog bilberry, bog blueberry, northern bilberry or western blueberry) is a Eurasian and North American flowering plant in the genus ''Vaccinium'' within the heath family. Distribution ''Vaccinium uliginosum'' is native ...

'', ''

Solidago virgaurea ''Solidago virgaurea'', the European goldenrod or woundwort, is an herbaceous perennial plant of the family Asteraceae. It is widespread across most of Europe as well as North Africa and northern, central, and southwestern Asia (China, Russia, ...

'', ''

Artemisia vulgaris ''Artemisia vulgaris'', the common mugwort, is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae. It is one of several species in the genus ''Artemisia'' commonly known as mugwort, although ''Artemisia vulgaris'' is the species most ...

'' and ''

Artemisia absinthium ''Artemisia absinthium'' (wormwood, grand wormwood, absinthe, absinthium, absinthe wormwood, mugwort, wermout, wermud, wormit, wormod) is a species of ''Artemisia'', native to temperate regions of Eurasia and North Africa, and widely naturalized ...

''. Larvae develop from mid-June to early or mid-September. Pupation occurs in the spring.

References

External links

Lepiforum.deVlindernet.nl
Moths described in 1790 Cuculliinae Palearctic Lepidoptera Taxa named by Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper {{Cuculliinae-stub