Lithophane ornitopus

Lithophane ornitopus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Lithophane
Species: L. ornitopus
Binomial name
Lithophane ornitopus
(Hufnagel, 1766)
Synonyms
  • Phalaena ornitopus Hufnagel, 1766
  • Lithophane pitzalisi Hartig, 1976
  • Noctua rizolitha Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775
  • Lithophane lactipennis Dadd, 1911

Lithophane ornitopus, the grey shoulder-knot, is a moth of the Noctuidae family. It is found in most of the Palearctic ecozone from Ireland east to Siberia.

Technical description and variation

For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

The wingspan is 32–38 mm. Forewing greywhite; a bifurcate black streak from base below cell; lines indistinct, pale with dotted edges; stigmata grey with partial black outlines and paler rings; the lower lobe of the reniform orange tinged; claviform sometimes connected by a black streak with outer line, and often a dark spot between the stigmata; submarginal line waved, white, preceded by dark marks; hindwing grey; the whiter forms are separated as ab. pallida Spul. [1]

Biology

Adults are on wing from late August to November and, after overwintering, again from the end of February to mid-May.

Habitat, Czech Republic
Larva

Larva bluish green dotted with white; dorsal and subdorsal lines white; spiracular line yellowish white. The larvae feed on various deciduous trees, but mainly Quercus species.[2] Larvae can be found from April to June. It overwinters as an adult.

Subspecies

References

  1. Seitz, A. Ed., 1914 Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde, Verlag Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart Band 3: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen eulenartigen Nachtfalter, 1914
  2. "Robinson, G. S., P. R. Ackery, I. J. Kitching, G. W. Beccaloni & L. M. Hernández, 2010. HOSTS - A Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants. Natural History Museum, London.".
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