''Manulea complana'', the scarce footman, is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

of the family

Erebidae The Erebidae are a family of moths in the superfamily Noctuoidea. The family is among the largest families of moths by species count and contains a wide variety of well-known macromoth groups. The family includes the underwings ('' Catocala'') ...

. The species was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. It is found throughout the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

region.

Technical description and variation

The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 28–35 mm. It is very like '' Eilema morosinum'' (Herrich-Schäffer,

847 __NOTOC__ Year 847 ( DCCCXLVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Danish Vikings land in the Breton March (western part of Gaul). Duke Nominoe ...

but the forewing not so elongate, and the angles not so accentuated, the costal streak broader and brighter yellow, the hindwing duller, not so transparent; the apex of the abdomen brighter yellow. On the underside the disc is very blackish iron grey, and contrasts vividly with the orange-yellow costa and the broad pale yellow marginal area. Hindwing beneath pale yellow, the costa deeper yellow; below costa a grey streak from the base.Seitz, E. in Seitz, A. Ed. ''Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde'', Verlag Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart Band 2: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Spinner und Schwärmer, 1912-1913

Biology

The moth flies from June to August depending on the location. Larva blackish dorsally, with narrow lighter lines; subdorsal lines composed of small reddish yellow and white spots; lateral line interrupted, reddish yellow. The larvae feed on

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.''Eilema complana'' at ''Lepiforum e.V.''
Moths described in 1758 Lithosiina Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Lithosiina-stub