Amphipyra berbera - Svenssons Pyramideneule 03 (HS)

Svensson's copper underwing (''Amphipyra berbera'') 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 ...

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 othe ...

. The species was first described by Charles E. Rungs in 1949. It is distributed throughout Europe including

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

east to the Urals. This species has a

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 47–56 mm, the female usually larger than the male. The forewings are brown, marked with pale

fascia A fascia (; plural fasciae or fascias; adjective fascial; from Latin: "band") is a band or sheet of connective tissue, primarily collagen, beneath the skin that attaches to, stabilizes, encloses, and separates muscles and other internal organ ...

and a dark-centred pale stigma. The hindwings are bright copper-coloured. This species is very similar to the

copper underwing The copper underwing, humped green fruitworm or pyramidal green fruitworm (''Amphipyra pyramidea'') is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. Distribu ...

(''Amphipyra pyramidea'') but can usually be distinguished by the pattern on the underside of the hindwings: ''A. pyramidea'' has a pale central area, contrasting strongly with darker margins; ''A berbera'' is much more uniformly coloured. See Townsend et al. ''A. berbera'' flies at night from July to September and is attracted to light and strongly to sugar. The

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. Th ...

feeds on a range of

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s and shrubs (see list below). The species overwinters as an

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

. # ''The flight season refers to the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the 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 and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles (O ...

. This may vary in other parts of the range.''

Recorded food plants

*''Acer'' - sycamore maple *''Carpinus'' -

hornbeam Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the flowering plant genus ''Carpinus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The 30–40 species occur across much of the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Origin of names The common English name ''hornb ...

*''Populus'' - aspen *''Quercus'' - oak *'' Rhododendron'' *''Salix'' -

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist ...

*''Sorbus'' - rowan *''Syringa'' - lilac *''

Tilia ''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Britain and Ireland they ...

'' - lime *''Wisteria'' - wisteria sinensis

References

* *

External links

*
''Fauna Europaea''
* Taxonomy
''Lepiforum e.V.''
Includes photo of genitalia. Amphipyrinae Moths described in 1949 Moths of Europe Moths of Asia {{Amphipyrinae-stub