Apamea anceps

Apamea anceps, the large nutmeg, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775.

Large nutmeg
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Apamea
Species:
A. anceps
Binomial name
Apamea anceps
Synonyms
  • Noctua anceps Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775
  • Phalaena (Noctua) sordida Borkhausen, 1792
  • Apamea infesta Ochsenheimer, 1816
  • Caradrina renardii Boisduval, 1829
  • Hadena engelhardtii Duurloo, 1889
  • Luceria pyxina A. Bang-Haas, 1910
  • Enargia siegeli Berio, 1985
  • Apamea pyxina sassanidica Hacker, 1990
  • Apamea anceps mazeli Lutran, 1993
  • Arenostola pyxina

Geography

The large nutmeg is distributed throughout Europe and through the Palearctic realm to Yakutia, Transbaikalia, Lebanon , Armenia, Asia Minor, Iran, Mongolia eastern Siberia, the Chinese province of Shaanxi, and Japan. It is also found in North West Africa.

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

The wingspan is 35–40 mm. Forewing grey speckled with darker, and more or less tinged with brown; the veins dark; inner and outer lines double, dark filled in with pale ground colour, conversely lunulate-dentate; the inner line sometimes forming a sharp outward angle below vein 1, meeting the median line, sometimes rounded ami remote from it: claviform brown, darker edged, variable in size, often quite small; orbicular and reniform pale with dark centres, the latter with white dotted annulus and often followed by a pale patch; marginal area dark grey beyond the pale submarginal line, which is preceded by brownish patches at costa and on both folds: hindwing dirty whitish, with darker cellspot, veins, and outer line, the terminal area diffusely fuscous, with the submarginal line showing paler along termen; in typical sordida the brown tints are confined to the two folds: -in anceps Hbn. these brown tints pervade more or less the whole forewing: - ochracea Tutt has the ground colour paler and the suffusion more rufous brown; renardii Bsd. is a very pale form with the markings subobsolete; while engelhartii Duurloo represents a renardii pale form from eastern Jutland with indistinct markings; - ab. mediana ab. nov. [Warren] appears very distinct; the brown-grey ground colour is without dark speckling; the inner and outer lines are single, black and distinct, the outer with clear black teeth on the veins; the median shade, generally inconspicuous, is thick and black, distinctly angled outwards on subcostal and veins 1 and 2; the space between it and outer line deeper brown: the markings of the hindwing clearer; the male specimen from Germany without precise locality.[1]

Adults are on wing from June to July.

Larvae

The larvae feed on the flowers and leaves of various grasses, including Poa annua and Dactylis glomerata.[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, 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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