''Plusia festucae'' (gold spot) is a species of

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 is found throughout 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 ...

from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

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 ...

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 34–46 mm. Forewing deep golden brown, with a golden metallic sheen at base of costa, on inner margin of median area, and on an oblique patch before apex; lines all oblique, dark brown; veins dark brown; at base of vein 2 a large silvery rounded blotch, with a smaller, more elongate, one beyond it; the lowest streak of the apical blotch, below vein 6, and a spot at base of costa are also silvery; hindwing bronzy fuscous, with pinkish fringe.

Biology

The moth flies from June to September depending on the location. Larva green; dorsal line dark green, edged with white; subdorsal and lateral lines white; spiracular yellowish; head green. The larvae feed on ''

Carex ''Carex'' is a vast genus of more than 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (or seg, in older books). Other members of the family Cyperaceae are also called sedges, however those of genus ''Carex'' ...

'', ''

Sparganium erectum ''Sparganium erectum'', the simplestem bur-reed or branched bur-reed, is a perennial plant species in the genus ''Sparganium ''Sparganium'' (bur-reed) is a genus of flowering plants, described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753. It is widespread ...

'', ''

Iris pseudacorus ''Iris pseudacorus'', the yellow flag, yellow iris, or water flag, is a species of flowering plant in the family Iridaceae. It is native to Europe, western Asia and northwest Africa. Its specific epithet ''pseudacorus'' means "false acorus", re ...

'' and '' Alisma''. Pupates in a whitish cocoon on the underside of a blade of grass, doubled over for the purpose.

References

External links

Gold spot at UKmoths
Taxonomy
Lepiforum.deVlindernet.nl
Plusiinae Moths described in 1758 Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Moths of Japan Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Plusiinae-stub