''Mythimna straminea'', the southern wainscot, 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

Georg Friedrich Treitschke Georg Friedrich Treitschke (; 29 August 1776 – 4 June 1842) was a German libretto, librettist, translator and lepidopterist. He was born in Leipzig and died in Vienna. In 1800 he came to the Vienna Hofoper. From 1809 to 1814 he was principal ...

in 1825. It is found in the western parts of the

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 ...

, including

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 ...

, Europe,

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, and

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

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 . Forewing pale ochreous with slight dark dusting and a faint reddish tinge; veins finely defined by brown streaks, which are also distinct in the intervals; a diffuse brown shade below median vein; outer dots on veins 2 and 5 only; hindwing whitish ochreous, grey tinged along middle from base, with a postmedian line of dark grey dashes on veins. Three distinct aberrations are mentioned by Tutt, all apparently British; ''obsoleta'' Tutt, a very rare pale form, with all the dots of forewing absent, the median nervure pure white, and the hindwing white without dots; in ''rufolinea'' Tutt the colouration is bright rufous, so that the forewing appears to consist of alternate fine lines of red and white; lastly in ''nigrostriata'' Tutt the colouration is blackish, the wing appearing to be a succession of black and white lines; the shade beneath median vein is almost black, and the hindwing is much darker; the majority of these darker forms are males.

Similar species

''Mythimna straminea'' is difficult to certainly distinguish from its congeners. See Townsend et al. for genitalia images and an identification key. *''

Mythimna impura ''Mythimna impura'', the smoky wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was Species description, first described by Jacob Hübner in 1808. It is distributed throughout most of the Palearctic realm from Ireland in the west of Europ ...

'' (Hübner, 1808) *''

Mythimna pallens ''Mythimna pallens'', the common wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae distributed throughout the Palearctic realm from Ireland in the west, through Europe (all of Russia) to Central Asia and Amur to the Kuriles in the east. The species was ...

'' (Linnaeus, 1758) *''

Mythimna favicolor ''Mythimna favicolor'', or Mathew's wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Charles Golding Barrett in 1896. It is found in Europe (Britain, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands). The species is sometimes trea ...

'' (Barrett, 1896)

Biology

The moth flies from June to August depending on the location. Larva ochreous with grey freckles; lines paler edged with dark grey; subspiracular line paler. The larvae feed on ''

Phragmites ''Phragmites'' () is a genus of four species of large perennial reed grasses found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world. Taxonomy The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, maintained by Kew Garden in London ...

'' and ''

Phalaris Phalaris ( el, Φάλαρις) was the tyrant of Akragas (now Agrigento) in Sicily, from approximately 570 to 554 BC. History Phalaris was renowned for his excessive cruelty. Among his alleged atrocities is cannibalism: he was said to have e ...

''.

References

*Waring, Paul & Townsend, Martin (2006). ''Nachtvlinders, veldgids met alle in Nederland en België voorkomende soorten''. Baarn.

External links

* *
''Lepiforum e.V.''''De Vlinderstichting''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1945648 Mythimna (moth) Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Moths of Africa Taxa named by Georg Friedrich Treitschke