''Mythimna impura'', the smoky wainscot, 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 ...

. The species was first described by

Jacob Hübner Jacob Hübner (20 June 1761 – 13 September 1826, in Augsburg) was a German entomologist. He was the author of ''Sammlung Europäischer Schmetterlinge'' (1796–1805), a founding work of entomology. Scientific career Hübner was the author of '' ...

in 1808. It is distributed throughout most of the

Palearctic realm 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. The ...

from

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in the west of Europe east to the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

, then

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. In Europe it is found from the

Arctic Circle The Arctic Circle is one of the two polar circles, and the northernmost of the five major circle of latitude, circles of latitude as shown on maps of Earth at about 66° 34' N. Its southern counterpart is the Antarctic Circle. The Arctic Circl ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

(including

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

) in the south, as well as in the northern regions of

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

As with other "wainscots", this species has buffish yellow forewings with prominent venation. The smoky wainscot has a dark basal streak with another shorter streak nearer to the

costa Costa may refer to: Biology * Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy * Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus * Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral * Costa (entomology), the leading edge of th ...

and tornus. This species has grey hindwings with white margins. 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 31–38 mm.

Technical description and variation

Forewing ochreous, with a rufous tinge; veins, especially the median, whiter, lined by fine brown streaks, which also appear in the interspaces; a dark shade below median nervure; a black clot at lower angle of cell; outer row of dots shown only by those on veins 2 and 5; hindwing dull grey. - ab. ''dungana'' Alph., from Turkestan and Tibet, is a darker, more fuscous, form in which the dark streaks become obscured; - ab. ''transbaikalensis'' Stgr. from

Transbaikal Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia ( rus, Забайка́лье, r=Zabaykal'ye, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲjɪ), or Dauria (, ''Dauriya'') is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" (trans-) Lake Baikal at the south side of the eastern Si ...

has the forewing dusted with red brown, and the dark streaks almost obsolete; — ab. ''amurensis'' Stgr. is wholly darker; the forewing with the white veins and the dark markings more distinct; - in ab. ''fuscipennis'' nov. arrenfrom Calabria and La Grave, Hautes Alpes, smaller than typical, the hindwing is blackish fuscous. See also Hacker et al.

Similar species

''Mythimna impura'' is difficult to certainly distinguish from its congeners. See Townsend et al. for genitalia images and an identification key. *''

Mythimna straminea ''Mythimna straminea'', the southern wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Georg Friedrich Treitschke in 1825. It is found in the western parts of the Palearctic realm, including Morocco, Europe, Turkey, ...

'' (Treitschke, 1825) *''

Mythimna pallens ''Mythimna pallens'', the common wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae distributed throughout the Palearctic realm from Ireland in the west, through Europe (all of Russia) to Central Asia and Amur to the Kuriles in the east. The species was ...

'' (Linnaeus, 1758) *''

Mythimna favicolor ''Mythimna favicolor'', or Mathew's wainscot, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Charles Golding Barrett in 1896. It is found in Europe (Britain, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands). The species is sometimes tre ...

'' (Barrett, 1896)

Biology

One or two broods are produced each year and adults can be seen at any time between June and October. It flies at night and is attracted to light, sugar and various

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s. The

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

is brown or greyish ochreous, sometimes tannish peach; the lines pale with darker edges. It feeds on various

grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

es including ''

Alopecurus ''Alopecurus'', or foxtail grass, is a common and widespread genus of plants in the grass family. It is common across temperate and subtropical parts of Eurasia, northern Africa, and the Americas, as well as naturalized in Australia and on vari ...

'', ''

Dactylis ''Dactylis'' is a genus of Eurasian and North African plants in the bluegrass subfamily within the grass family. ''Dactylis'' is native to North Africa, they are found throughout the world, and are an invasive species. They are known in English ...

'', ''

Deschampsia ''Deschampsia'' is a genus of plants in the grass family Poaceae, commonly known as hair grass or tussock grass. The genus is widespread across many countries.Leymus ''Leymus'' is a genus of plants in the grass family Poaceae (Gramineae). It is widespread across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. * '' Leymus aemulans'' - Xinjiang, Central Asia * '' Leymus ajanensis'' - Siberia, Russian Far East, Alaska * '' L ...

'' and ''

Phragmites ''Phragmites'' () is a genus of four species of large perennial plant, perennial reed (plant), reed Poaceae, grasses found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world. Taxonomy The World Checklist of Selected Plant Famili ...

'' and has also been recorded on the

sedge The Cyperaceae () are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as wikt:sedge, sedges. The family (biology), family is large; botanists have species description, described some 5,500 known species in about 90 ...

, ''

Carex ''Carex'' is a vast genus of over 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family (biology), family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (or seg, in older books). Other members of the family Cyperaceae are also called sedges, however those of ge ...

'' and the rush, ''

Luzula ''Luzula'' is a genus of flowering plants in the rush family Juncaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution, with species occurring throughout the world, especially in temperate regions, the Arctic, and higher elevation areas in the tropic ...

''. This species overwinters as a small larva.

References

#''The flight season refers to the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

. This may vary in other parts of the range.'' * Chinery, Michael (1986, reprinted 1991). ''Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe''. * Skinner, Bernard (1984). ''

The Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles ''The Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles (Macrolepidoptera)'' by Bernard Skinner is a single volume identification guide to the macromoths of Britain and Ireland. The first edition was published in 1984, and a second, revi ...

''.

External links

* * Taxonomy
''Lepiforum e.V.''
{{Taxonbar , from=Q2012435 Mythimna (moth) Moths described in 1808 Insects of the Arctic Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Moths of Japan Taxa named by Jacob Hübner