''Aspitates gilvaria'', the straw belle, 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

Geometridae The geometer moths are 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, paraphyleti ...

. The species was first described by

Michael Denis Johann Nepomuk Cosmas Michael Denis, also: ''Sined the Bard'', (27 September 1729 – 29 September 1800) was an Austrian Catholic priest and Jesuit, who is best known as a poet, bibliographer, and lepidopterist. Life Denis was born at Schärdin ...

and

Ignaz Schiffermüller Jeremias "Johann" Ignaz Schiffermüller (; 2 November 1727 – 21 June 1806) was an Austrian naturalist and Jesuit teacher who took a special interest in the Lepidoptera. In order to describe the colours of butterflies, he also looked for a syste ...

in 1775. It is found from Europe to the eastern part 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 ...

. The main habitats are warm slopes, heathlands, fields and abandoned quarries. In the mountains, the species rises to heights of 1000 meters. Adults are on wing from July to August.

Description

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 25–30 mm. The graduated buff coloured forewing has a red or brown diagonal slash from the wing tip to the inside edge. The hindwings are white with a faint diagonal grey streak and a dot on the upper surface. The male has combed antennae. The female is more mottled than the male and has less combed antennae. The egg initially has a light green colour, which changes from reddish yellow to grey just before the caterpillars hatch. The pole and egg base are orange. The surface is covered with about 50 longitudinal ribs. The micropyle rosette is ten to eleven-leaves and surrounded by a large-mesh network. The larva is ochreous grey, with a blackish, ochreous-edged dorsal line and various other fine darker and paler longitudinal lines.

Diet

The larvae feed on various herbaceous plants, including ''

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 ...

'', ''

Thymus The thymus (: thymuses or thymi) is a specialized primary lymphoid organ of the immune system. Within the thymus, T cells mature. T cells are critical to the adaptive immune system, where the body adapts to specific foreign invaders. The thymus ...

'', ''

Andromeda polifolia ''Andromeda polifolia'', common name bog-rosemary, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae, native to northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere. It is the only member of the genus ''Andromeda'', and is only found in bogs in ...

'' and possibly ''

Empetrum nigrum ''Empetrum nigrum'', crowberry, black crowberry, mossberry, or, in western Alaska, Labrador, etc., blackberry, is a flowering plant species in the heather family Ericaceae with a near circumboreal distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. Desc ...

'', ''

Rubus chamaemorus ''Rubus chamaemorus'' is a species of flowering plant in the rose family. Its English common names include cloudberry, Nordic berry, bakeapple (in Newfoundland and Labrador), knotberry and knoutberry (in England), aqpik or low-bush salmonberry ( ...

'' and ''

Vaccinium uliginosum ''Vaccinium uliginosum'' (bog bilberry, bog blueberry, northern bilberry or western blueberry) is a Eurasian and North American flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae. Description ''Vaccinium uliginosum'' is a small deciduous shrub growi ...

''.HOSTS database, National History Museum, London
Retrieved 2024

Subspecies

*''Aspitates gilvaria gilvaria'' *''Aspitates gilvaria fenica'' (Fuchs, 1899) Finland and the Baltic states *''Aspitates gilvaria orientaria'' (Alphéraky, 1892) Caucasus, Thian Shan, Sajan and Amdo districts with little or no dark irroration. *''Aspitates gilvaria burrenensis'' Cockayne, 1951 ::darker than the nominate subspecies with a longer hindwing stripe - found in

the Burren The Burren ( ; ) is a karst/glaciokarst landscape centred in County Clare, on the west coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland.

, Ireland

Similar species

*'' Aspitates ochrearia'' differs by an additional thin grey inner transverse line on the front wing upperside.

References

Gallery

Image:Aspitates gilvaria01.jpg Image:Aspitates gilvaria02.jpg Image:Aspitates_gilvaria_antennae.jpg, Antennae

External links

Straw belle at ''UKMoths''''Fauna Europaea''''Lepiforum e.V.''
Aspitatini Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Taxa named by Michael Denis Taxa named by Ignaz Schiffermüller Moths described in 1775 {{Ennominae-stub