''Pyrausta purpuralis'' is a species of

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 ...

of the family

Crambidae The Crambidae are the grass moth family of lepidopterans. They are variable in appearance, the nominal subfamily Crambinae (grass moths) taking up closely folded postures on grass stems where they are inconspicuous, while other subfamilies includ ...

. It was 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, ...

in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''

Distribution

Is found in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

Description

The species closely resembles ''

Pyrausta aurata The mint moth (''Pyrausta aurata'') is a small moth from the family Crambidae, also known by the common name ''Small Purple and Gold''. Distribution This species can be found in most of Europe and it is also widespread in North Africa and Nort ...

'' and ''

Pyrausta ostrinalis {{For, the grass moth genus, Pyrausta (moth) Pyrausta or pyrallis (πυραλλίς) (also called in Greek pyrigonos) is a mythological insect from Cyprus. It is a four-legged insect with filmy wings. It lived in the fire like a salamander and died ...

''. It is also known by the common name ''Common Purple & Gold''. 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 ...

is about 20 mm. The forewings are purple, more or less mixed with dark grey; markings ochreous yellow, black-edged; an oblique fascia near base, not reaching costa; a spot in middle of disc; an irregular postmedian fascia, sometimes broken into three spots; sometimes a subterminal streak, not reaching apex. Hindwings are black, base sometimes suffused with whitish-ochreous; a discal spot and curved postmedian fascia whitish-ochreous; sometimes a whitish-ochreous subterminal streak, sometimes purple in middle. The larva is dark grey; dorsal and spiracular lines yellowish; spots black, whitish-edged.Meyrick, E., 1895 ''A Handbook of British Lepidoptera'' MacMillan, Londo
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Keys and description (MHNT) Pyrausta purpuralis - Sorèze (Tarn France) - male dorsal.jpg, ''Pyrausta purpuralis'' ♂ (MHNT) Pyrausta purpuralis - Sorèze (Tarn France) - male ventral.jpg, ''Pyrausta purpuralis'' ♂ △

Biology

The moth flies from May to September depending on the location. The species is active during the day. The larvae feed on

mint MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaAE ...

References

External links

''Pyrausta purpuralis'' at UKMothsLepiforum.de
purpuralis Moths described in 1758 Moths of Europe Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Pyrausta (moth)-stub