Lithophane ornitopus

Lithophane ornitopus, the grey shoulder-knot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766 and is found in most of the Palearctic realm from Ireland east to Siberia.

Lithophane ornitopus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
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

Technical description and variation
For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

The wingspan is 32–38 mm. Its forewings are grey white; 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]

Larva
Habitat in the Czech Republic

Biology

Adults are on wing from late August to November and, after overwintering, again from the end of February to mid-May. The larva are bluish green dotted with white; dorsal and subdorsal lines white; spiracular line yellowish white. The larvae feed on various deciduous trees, but mainly oak (Quercus species) and can be found from April to June. It overwinters as an adult.[2]

Subspecies
  • Lithophane ornitopus ornitopus
  • Lithophane ornitopus pitzalisi Hartig, 1976 (Sardinia)

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, Gaden S.; Ackery, Phillip R.; Kitching, Ian J.; Beccaloni, George W.; Hernández, Luis M. (2010). "Search the database – introduction and help". HOSTS – A Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants. Natural History Museum, London.


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