Technical description and variation
''L. dumerilii'' Dup. (= ''amentata'' Germ.) (43 d). Forewing whitish ochreous, generally with a pinkish or rufous tinge; the median and terminal areas, a costal patch before submarginal line, and generally the basal area olive brown; inner and outer lines double, dark filled in with ochreous; median vein and veinlets whitish: claviform stigma minute, brown edged, or absent; orbicular and reniform filled in with whitish, with pale brown centres; space between outer and submarginal lines of the pale ground colour, or slightly tinged with olive brown; submarginal line indicated by the dark terminal area, generally also preceded by a pale brown line; fringe chequered, brown and pale; hindwing white, tinged with grey in dark females; — ab. ''sancta'' Stgr. (43 d) from Palestine and Sicdy, is smaller, darker, with the upper stigmata snow white: the hindwing with a dark cellspot on the underside; a female from Ficuzza, Sicily certainly belongs here; — ab. ''diversa'' Stgr. now full species ''Luperina diversa'' (Staudinger, [1892 ">892.html" ;"title="now full species ''Luperina diversa'' (Staudinger, [1892">now full species ''Luperina diversa'' (Staudinger, [1892 (43 d), from Asia Minor and Armenia, is paler, somewhat larger, with the markings more diffuse; — ab. ''uniformis'' ab. nov. (= ab. A. Guen., ''desyllesi'' Stgr. nec Bsd.) (43 d) is wholly brownish fuscous; the lines hardly visible except at costa; all 3 stigmata edged with black; the two upper with pale annuli; hindwing white, with a dark cellspot on the underside, as in ''sancta'' Guen.; — Guenee's example was from Lyons; the one described above, a male, from Ficuzza, Sicily. William Warren (entomologist)">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 is 29–36 mm.Biology
There is one generation per year with adults on wing from August to November. The larvae feed on the roots of various grasses. The species overwinters in the larval stage. Pupation takes place in July underground.Subspecies
*''Luperina dumerilii dumerilii'' *''Luperina dumerilii hartigi'' Ronkay & Varga, 1985 (Sardinia) *''Luperina dumerilii hirsuta'' (Wagner, 1831) (Turkey) *''Luperina dumerilii sancta'' (Staudinger, 1891) (Jordan)References
External links
*