Moma alpium

Moma alpium, the scarce merveille du jour, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in the Palearctic realm.

Larva
Illustration from John Curtis's British Entomology Volume 5

Scarce merveille du jour
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Noctuidae
Genus:
Moma
Species:
M. alpium
Binomial name
Moma alpium
(Osbeck, 1778)

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

D. alpium Osb. (= orion Esp.) (2c). Forewing blue green, the costa and both folds white: stigmata and lines black; outer hue with brown outer border; hindwing fuscous, with black and white marks at anal angle. In the form murrhina Grues. (2c), from Western Asia, the green of the forewing is much more broken up by black markings between the lines, and the brown shade beyond outer line is wider and extends into the fringe. The examples from Japan are as large as European, those from Korea decidedly smaller. Larva pale brown streaked with yellow; dorsum black with three transverse yellowish white blotches; tubercles reddish, bearing erect tufts of hairs. [1]

Biology

The wingspan is 30–35 mm. The moth flies from May to September depending on the location.

The larvae feed on oak, European beech and birch.

References
  1. 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.
  • Kimber, Ian. "73.034 BF2277 Scarce Merveille du Jour Moma alpium (Osbeck, 1778)". UKMoths. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  • Fauna Europaea
  • Lepiforum e. V. (in German)
  • De Vlinderstichting (in Dutch)


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.