The orange swift or orange moth (''Triodia sylvina'') 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 ...

belonging to the family

Hepialidae The Hepialidae are a family of insects in the lepidopteran order. Moths of this family are often referred to as swift moths or ghost moths. Taxonomy and systematics The Hepialidae constitute by far the most diverse group of the infraorder Exopo ...

. The species was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

in 1761 and was previously placed in the genus ''

Hepialus The ghost moth or ghost swift (''Hepialus humuli'') is a moth of the family Hepialidae. It is common throughout Europe, except for in the far south-east. Female ghost moths are larger than males, and exhibit sexual dimorphism with their differ ...

''. It is distributed throughout Europe.

Description

This species has 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 32–48 mm. The male has rich orange forewings with two white bars forming a "V" shape. The hindwings are dark brown. The female is similar but generally larger and less brightly coloured. It flies at night from June to September and is attracted to light. They do not have a

proboscis A proboscis () is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal, either a vertebrate or an invertebrate. In invertebrates, the term usually refers to tubular mouthparts used for feeding and sucking. In vertebrates, a proboscis is an elong ...

so will not be found at flowers feeding. The globular, shiny black eggs are broadcast by the female as she hovers over the food plant. ;Larva When they hatch the larvae find their foodplant, bore into the root and are 25 to 30 mm long when fully fed. They have an orange-brown head and a shiny white body with brownish-orange dorsal plates on the thoracic segments; spiracles are black. They can feed for two years from September to July on the roots of various plants including

bracken Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that have alternating generations, large plants that produce spores and small plants that produce sex cells (eggs ...

(''Pteridium'' species), dandelion (''

Taraxacum ''Taraxacum'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus is native to Eurasia and Nor ...

'' species), docks (''

Rumex The docks and sorrels, genus ''Rumex'', are a genus of about 200 species of annual, biennial, and perennial herbs in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae. Members of this genus are very common perennial herbs with a native almost worldwide distribu ...

'' species), hop (''

Humulus lupulus ''Humulus lupulus'', the common hop or hops, is a species of flowering plant in the hemp family Cannabinaceae, native to Europe, western Asia and North America. It is a perennial, herbaceous climbing plant which sends up new shoots in early spr ...

'') and viper's bugloss (''

Echium vulgare ''Echium vulgare'', known as viper's bugloss and blueweed,Dickinson, T.; Metsger, D.; Bull, J.; & Dickinson, R. (2004) ROM Field Guide to Wildflowers of Ontario. Toronto:Royal Ontario Museum, p. 203. is a species of flowering plant in the borag ...

''). ;Pupa The larvae pupate in silken cocoons near the surface of the soil;

pupa A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

are elongated with hooked bristles on the abdominal segments. They leave the cocoon, prior to the emergence of the

imago In biology, the imago (Latin for "image") is the last stage an insect attains during its metamorphosis, its process of growth and development; it is also called the imaginal stage, the stage in which the insect attains maturity. It follows the f ...

Distribution

Found throughout northern, central and south-eastern Europe to the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

Etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the Phonological chan ...

Originally placed in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

'' – from the Greek; ''hēpialos'' – means a fever, as in 'the fitful, alternating flight' of the moth. It has since been allocated to the genus '' Triodia''. The specific name ''sylvina'' – from ''silvanus'' – belonging to a wood, referring to the moths habitat; although it can be found in other habitats.

Gallery

Triodia sylvina-Kärnten, Hohe Tauern, Obervellach, 1050 m-bE-HdN-481a.jpg Triodia.sylvina.7444.jpg File:Britishentomologyvolume5Plate185.jpg, John Curtis's ''

British Entomology ''British Entomology'' is a classic work of entomology by John Curtis, FLS. It is subtitled ''Being Illustrations and Descriptions of the Genera of Insects found in Great Britain and Ireland: Containing Coloured Figures from Nature of the Most ...

'' Volume 5 Image:Buckler W The larvæ of the British butterflies and moths PlateXXX.jpg, Figs. 5 larvae after last moult burrowing in root of dock File:Triodia sylvina - pupa female 01 (HS).JPG, female pupa

Notes

# ''The flight season refers to the

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

*
''Lepiforum e.V.''
{{Taxonbar , from=Q474591 Hepialidae Moths described in 1761 Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus