''Hyppa rectilinea'', the Saxon, 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

Noctuidae The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family of moths. They are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly changing, along with the other f ...

. It is found in Europe, but mostly in northern and central Europe. In the south, it is found in scattered populations, mainly in mountainous areas (northern Italy). To the east, its range stretches through northern

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and eastern

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

, up to the

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

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

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 33–41 mm. Forewing brown, the basal and terminal areas mixed with white towards costa; the median space darker and reddish below middle; a thick black streak from base below cell, below which the basal area is darker; inner and outer lines black conversely edged with white, the inner angled on submedian fold, the outer with a white patch before it on the same fold; a black bar between the two lines along it; upper stigmata large, mixed with white, and black-edged; the orbicular flattened; subterminal line whitish with black teeth below middle, above middle marked by black subterminal dashes between the veins; hindwing brownish, paler towards base.

Biology

Adults are on wing from the end of May to the beginning of August in one generation. Larva mottled pale and dark brown, tinged with purple along the sides; dorsal line pale, with dark edges, somewhat interrupted; subdorsal series of oblique pale stripes, dark-edged behind;spiracular line pale; segment 11 with two ochreous dots; head dark brown. The larvae feed on the leaves of various plants, including ''

Vaccinium myrtillus ''Vaccinium myrtillus'' or European blueberry is a holarctic species of shrub with edible fruit of blue color, known by the common names bilberry, blaeberry, wimberry, and whortleberry. It is more precisely called common bilberry or blue whortle ...

'' and other '' Vaccinium'' species, as well as '' Salix'' and ''

Rubus ''Rubus'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae, with over 1,350 species. Raspberries, blackberries, and dewberries are common, widely distributed members of the genus. Most of these ...

''.

References

External links

The Saxon on UKmoths
Taxonomy
Fauna EuropaeaLepiforum.deschmetterlinge-deutschlands.de
Caradrinini Moths of Japan Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Taxa named by Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper {{Caradrinini-stub