''Elaphria venustula'' (rosy marbled) is a

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

of the family

Noctuidae The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family (biology), family of moths. Taxonomically, they are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly ...

. It is found in most of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, except the north. In the east, the range extends through the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

Technical description and variation

''P. venustula'' Hbn. (= ''hybnerana'' F.) (45 i). Forewing white, the basal half tinged with dull pink; inner and outer lines double, grey, waved, their inner and outer arms respectively thicker and duller, those enclosing the median area darker and thinner below middle, each preceded by an irregular brownish shade; a broad oblique white streak from apex, interrupting a brown praesubmarginal shade, which isagain interrupted above inner margin; submarginal line undefined except at middle where it is preceded by a brown shade containing 2 or 3 black marks the terminal area beyond it and the fringe uninterruptedly brown; claviform stigma grey edged with white; orbicular absent, its place taken by a black semicircular blotch on median vein from which black scales run down through the brown shade; reniform obscurely marked, pale grey inwardly, with some black scales externally touching outer line; hindwing whitish, tinged with brownish grey towards termen; a grey cellspot and outer line. Larva purplish brown;the dorsal line indistinctly paler; 4th segment with a pale spot at sides; head brown. 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 The

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

is 18–22 mm.

Biology

There are usually two generations per year with adults on wing from May to September. In the northern part of the range, there is only one generation, with adults on wing from June to July. The larvae mainly feed on the flowers of ''

Potentilla ''Potentilla'' is a genus containing over 500 species of Annual plant, annual, Biennial plant, biennial and Perennial plant, perennial herbaceous plant, herbaceous flowering plants in the rose family (biology), family, Rosaceae. Potentillas m ...

'', ''

Erica Erica or ERICA may refer to: * Erica (given name) * Erica (plant), ''Erica'' (plant), a flowering plant genus * Erica (chatbot), a service of Bank of America * Erica (video game), ''Erica'' (video game), a 2019 FMV video game * Erica (spider), ' ...

'' and ''

Calluna ''Calluna vulgaris'', common heather, ling, or simply heather, is the sole species in the genus ''Calluna'' in the flowering plant family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing evergreen shrub growing to tall, or rarely to and taller, and is found wide ...

'' species, but have also been recorded feeding on ''

Genista ''Genista'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae, native to open habitats such as moorland and pasture in Europe and western Asia. They include species commonly called broom, though the term may also refer to other gener ...

'' and ''

Rubus ''Rubus'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae, most commonly known as brambles. Fruits of various species are known as raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, and bristleberries. ...

'' species. The species overwinters in the pupal stage.

References

External links

Lepiforum.deschmetterlinge-deutschlands.de

Vlindernet.nl
Moths described in 1790 Caradrinini Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Taxa named by Jacob Hübner {{Caradrinini-stub