''Spilosoma lubricipeda'', the white ermine, 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

Erebidae The Erebidae are a family of moths in the superfamily Noctuoidea. The family is among the largest families of moths by species count and contains a wide variety of well-known macromoth groups. The family includes the underwings ('' Catocala'') ...

. It is found throughout the temperate belt of

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago a ...

from Europe through

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

and southern

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

Amur Region Amur Oblast ( rus, Аму́рская о́бласть, r=Amurskaya oblast, p=ɐˈmurskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located on the banks of the Amur and Zeya Rivers in the Russian Far East. The administrativ ...

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 ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

and

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 ...

. In

several sibling species occur. 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 34–48 mm. Wing pattern is very variable, from entirely white wings to strongly covered with black dots. Hindwings often with one or several black dots (rarely without any black dot). Antennae branches long (much longer than in similar '' Spilosoma urticae''), 3–5 times longer than the antenna stem diameter.

Technical description and variation

Milky white, abdomen orange with black dorsal dots. Forewing more or less sprinkled with sharply defined black dots, of which there are always some at the costa and others arranged in rows in the disc. Hindwing with discal dots and often with anal ones and others. Antennae black. In specimens from northern Scotland the forewing is sandy yellow, ab. ''ochrea'', also found elsewhere as an exception among. The forewing may be darkened to brown; this is the case in ab. ''brunnea'' Ober. In ab. ''luxerii'' Godt. the forewing is suffused with rose-red distally and brownish proximally. In ab. ''walkeri'' Curt, the dots merge to form radial streaks. In Japan it usually occurs in the form ''sangaica'' Walk. which is only distinguished from ''lubricipeda'' by the sparse dots, especially in the outer area of the forewing. Specimens similar to ''sangaica'' occur aberratively also in Europe, bearing the name ''paucipuncta'' Fuchs and in contradistinction to it there is the very strongly dotted ''krieghoffi'' Pabst. A still further reduction of the dots leads to ab. ''unipuncta'' Strand, in which there is only one dot on the hindwing. -''punctarium'' Cr. ow_full_species_''Spilosoma_punctarium''_(Stoll,_[1782.html" ;"title="Spilosoma_punctarium.html" ;"title="ow full species ''Spilosoma punctarium">ow full species ''Spilosoma punctarium'' (Stoll, [1782">Spilosoma_punctarium.html" ;"title="ow full species ''Spilosoma punctarium">ow full species ''Spilosoma punctarium'' (Stoll, [1782] is distinguished from ''lubricipeda'' by the carmine abdomen with sharp transverse spots, and by the wings being rather more spotted.

Biology

The moth flies May to September depending on the location. They are not eaten by birds because they are poisonous. Egg light yellow. Larva lilac-brown with deep dark brown hair and orange-yellow dorsal stripe. The larvae feed on

stinging nettle ''Urtica dioica'', often known as common nettle, burn nettle, stinging nettle (although not all plants of this species sting) or nettle leaf, or just a nettle or stinger, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Urticaceae. Or ...

, ''

Cytisus scoparius ''Cytisus scoparius'' ( syn. ''Sarothamnus scoparius''), the common broom or Scotch broom, is a deciduous leguminous shrub native to western and central Europe. In Britain and Ireland, the standard name is broom; this name is also used for oth ...

'',

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as w ...

, ''

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 ...

'' and ''

Taraxacum officinale ''Taraxacum officinale'', the dandelion or common dandelion, is a flowering herbaceous perennial plant of the dandelion genus in the family Asteraceae (syn. Compositae). The common dandelion is well known for its yellow flower heads that turn i ...

''.

Subspecies

Spilosoma lubricipeda sangaicum
'BOLD Systems
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References

External links

White ermine moth on UKMothsFauna Europaea: ''Spilosoma lubricipeda''Lepiforum.de: ''Spilosoma lubricipeda''Taxonomy of ''Spilosoma lubricipeda''
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' (funet)
BOLD: ''Spilosoma lubricipeda''EoL: ''Spilosoma lubricipeda''
* Retrieved April 23, 2018. {{taxonbar, from=Q906595 lubricipeda Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Moths of Japan Moths of Korea Moths described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus