Conistra erythrocephala

Conistra erythrocephala, the red-headed chestnut, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is distributed throughout Europe.[1] and it is recorded from Asia Minor, (Amasia).

Conistra erythrocephala
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Superfamily: Noctuoidea
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Conistra
Subgenus: Conistra (Dasycampa)
Species:
C. erythrocephala
Binomial name
Conistra erythrocephala

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

C. erythrocephala F. (35 g). Forewing dull red-brown, suffused to a greater or less degree with grey; lines obscure, indistinctly double ; the submarginal with a darker blotch before it on costa; upper stigmata generally filled up with grey, with paler brown-edged annuli, often obscure and unicolorous : the reniform generally with black spots round its lower end; hindwing greyish fuscous; the fringe pale ochreous; in ab. glabra Hbn. (35 g) the ground colour is darker, more purplish-brown, with the costal streak, the two stigmata, and a submarginal fascia pale grey; the lines are also generally paler and more evident; — ab. impunctata Spul. (35 g) has the reniform stigma unmarked by black points, the other markings being often in these cases more obscure, and the ground colour striated with dark; in pallida Tutt (35 g) the dark ground colour is overlaid and hidden by pale grey suffusion. Larva grey brown or yellowish-brown; dorsal and subdorsal lines fine and pale, the latter sometimes obsolete; the dorsum dotted with white; spiracles black. [2] The wingspan is around 38 mm (1.5 in).

Biology

The moths fly from August/September to early May (it is active in Winter).The caterpillars live from mid-April to June.

Recorded food plants

The larvae feed on young leaves of Quercus and Ulmus before descending to feed on herbaceous plants.

References
  1. Red-headed Chestnut at UK moth
  2. Warren. W. in 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 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.


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