Agrotis ripae

Agrotis ripae
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Agrotis
Species: A. ripae
Binomial name
Agrotis ripae
Hübner, 1823
Synonyms
  • Scotia ripae

The Sand Dart (Agrotis ripae) is a moth of the Noctuidae family. It is found in Western Europe and North Africa and extends East across the Palearctic to steppe areas in Russia, Mongolia and Siberia.

Description

The wingspan is 32–42 mm. Forewing rufous brown or rufous grey, mixed with white ;a costal streak and the veins whitish; stigmata outlined with brown, the reniform with the centre dark; marginal area often paler; hindwing in male white, in female with the veins and margin grey. A seacoast species or surviving in wastes once washed by the sea; occurring in Britain, France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Russia; in Mongolia and Siberia, and in Egypt; — a remarkably variable species of which the chief forms are ab. nebulosa Stph. a pale grey form, with the costa, base, and outer margin fuscous; desertorum Bsd. from S. Russia, Siberia and Egypt is grey with the lines and stigmata dark and distinct; — in brunnea Tutt the ground-colour is deep reddish ochreous with lines and stigmata fuscous ; — grisea Tutt is dark slaty grey with the markings obscured ; a row of small whitish subterminal dots; — ab. desillii Pierret is a reddish grey form, sometimes mixed with yellowish, with the markings well-developed; — albicosta Tutt is like it, but with a white costal streak in addition: — lastly, we have two nearly white forms ab. weissenbornii Frr. , whitish with the stigmata outlined in black: — and ab. obotritica Schmidt, chalkwhite, with a few traces only of lines and stigmata..[1]

Biology

Adults are on wing from June to July depending on the location.

Habitat, Germany

The larvae feed on various sand-dune plants, including Salsola kali, Cakile maritima, and Atriplex.[2]

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.".

External links

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