Mesoligia furuncula

The cloaked minor (Mesoligia furuncula) is a moth of the family Noctuoidea. It is found in the Palearctic ecozone (Europe, north-west Africa, Russia, Siberia, Japan, north Iran, Afghanistan and China (Qinghai, Shaanxi).

Mesoligia furuncula
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Noctuidae
Genus:
Mesoligia
Species:
M. furuncula
Binomial name
Mesoligia furuncula

Description

The wingspan is 22–28 mm. The length of the forewings is 10–12 mm. The typical form has the forewing sharply demarcated between a pale distal field and a rufous basal field. The colour and pattern is highly variable and furuncula may look like a lot of the species in the genus Oligia which can be separated by from all but Mesoligia literosa by details of the genitalia. A study of the genitalia of European and Asian specimens of the two Mesoligia species literosa Haworth and furuncula Denis & Schiffermüller showed however that there is no significant intra-specific variation, in these two closely related Oligia species.[1]

Habitat

Biology

The moth flies in one generation from late June to mid September .

The larvae feed on various grasses such as Tufted Hair-grass, Festuca ovina, and Arrhenatherum elatius.[2]

Notes
  1. ^ The flight season refers to Belgium and The Netherlands. This may vary in other parts of the range.

References
  1. von L. Rezbanyai-Reser Genitalmorphologische Befunde mittaxonomischen Bemerkungen bei Mesoligia literosa Haw. und furuncula D. & Sch. in Europa und in Asien, sowie weitere Angaben zu den asiatischen Oligia-Arten (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae).Entomologische Berichte Luzern 40 (1998): S. 109-142
  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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