''Xestia speciosa'' 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 is found in northern Europe, including

Fennoscandia __NOTOC__ Fennoscandia (Finnish language, Finnish, Swedish language, Swedish and no, Fennoskandia, nocat=1; russian: Фенноскандия, Fennoskandiya) or the Fennoscandian Peninsula is the geographical peninsula in Europe, which includes ...

, the

Baltic region The terms Baltic Sea Region, Baltic Rim countries (or simply the Baltic Rim), and the Baltic Sea countries/states refer to slightly different combinations of countries in the general area surrounding the Baltic Sea, mainly in Northern Europe. ...

, parts of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and further through northern Asia to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

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 ...

. It is also found in the mountainous areas of central and southern Europe. It is also present in north-western

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. Some authors treat ''Xestia apropitia'' as a valid species, while Mikkola, Lafontaine and Kononenko (1996) placed it as a subspecies of ''Xestia speciosa''. 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 ...

of ssp. ''speciosa'' is 38–50 mm. Subspecies ''arctica'' has a wingspan of 36–45 mm. Adults are on wing from June to August in one generation. The larvae feed on various low-growing plants, including ''

Vaccinium myrtillus ''Vaccinium myrtillus'' or European blueberry is a holarctic species of shrub with edible fruit of blue color, known by the common names bilberry, blaeberry, wimberry, and whortleberry. It is more precisely called common bilberry or blue whortle ...

'', ''

Lonicera nigra ''Lonicera nigra'', known in English as black-berried honeysuckle is a bush honeysuckle native to the mountains of central and southern Europe. References External links * {{Taxonbar, from=Q163141 nigra Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus ...

'' and '' Betula nana''.

Subspecies

Note that only ''speciosa'', ''arctica'' and ''modesta'' are confirmed

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

. The other listed subspecies need further study to confirm their status. '' Xestia viridescens'' is sometimes included here as another subspecies. ;Generally accepted *''Xestia speciosa speciosa'' (Hübner, 1813) (Germany) *''Xestia speciosa modesta'' (Alps) *''Xestia speciosa arctica'' (Zetterstedt 1839) (northern Europe, northern Canada south to the northern parts of the mountains in Alberta) ;Disputed *''Xestia speciosa aegrota'' (Alpheraky 1897) (Siberia, northern Mongolia) *''Xestia speciosa aklavikensis'' (Nearctic) *''Xestia speciosa apropitia'' (Benjamin, 1933) (Colorado) *''Xestia speciosa baltica'' (Valle 1940) *''Xestia speciosa janae'' Herz, 1903 *''Xestia speciosa livalis'' (Nearctic) *''Xestia speciosa mixta'' *''Xestia speciosa rybatchiensis'' Kotzsch 1934 *''Xestia speciosa ussurica'' (north-eastern Siberia to Korea and Japan)

External links

''Lepiforum e. V.''''Schmetterlinge-Deutschlands.de''
* Xestia Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Moths of North America {{Xestia-stub