The square-spot rustic (''Xestia xanthographa'') 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 w ...

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 other f ...

. It 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 Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

and east across the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

(excluding China) and in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

The

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

is quite variable in appearance, the forewings occurring in various shades of grey or brown, with

melanic The term melanism refers to black pigment and is derived from the gr, μελανός. Melanism is the increased development of the dark-colored pigment melanin in the skin or hair. Pseudomelanism, also called abundism, is another variant of pi ...

forms common in parts of its range. The best identifying feature is the large, pale, squarish stigma which gives the species its common name. The hindwings are pale to dark grey with a whitish fringe. 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 of ...

is 30–40 mm.

Technical description and variation

Forewing dull brown; the upper stigmata with pale annuli, the reniform sometimes wholly pale, the orbicular round; claviform absent; hindwing ochreous white, suffused with fuscous towards termen only in male, more broadly in female; in ab. ''budensis'' Frr. the ground colour is grey; in ab. ''elutior'' Alph. the forewings are more brightly coloured, being cinnamon brown or yellowish grey; and in ab. ''palaestinensis'' Kalchb. ow full species ''Xestia palaestinensis'' (Kalchberg, 1897)">Xestia_palaestinensis.html" ;"title="ow full species ''Xestia palaestinensis">ow full species ''Xestia palaestinensis'' (Kalchberg, 1897) while the ground colour is paler, all the markings are more distinct. – ab. ''obscura'' Tutt and ab. ''nigra'' Tutt represent the reddish black and greyish black forms, with stigmata sometimes clear, at others almost obsolete, which occur in the North of Scotland, the hindwing also being blackish; ''rufescens'' Tutt and ''rufa'' Tutt are merely colour varieties.

Biology

This moth flies at night from July to September and is attracted to light, making it susceptible to light traps, and sugar. It also visits flowers such as heather, marram grass">Calluna.html" ;"title="Moth trap">light traps, and sugar. It also visits flowers such as Calluna">heather, marram grass and Senecio">ragwort. It is found in woodland edges, waste ground and suburban habitats with a distribution that covers most of England. Larva greenish ochreous, with pale dorsal and subdorsal lines edged with dark; between them a row of oblique marks. The larva feeds on a variety of plants such as Galium, bedstraw, oak and willow, as well as various grasses. The species overwinters as a larva, remaining active and feeding throughout. #''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, ...

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

References

*Chinery, Michael ''Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe'' 1986 (Reprinted 1991) *Skinner, Bernard ''Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles'' 1984

External links

Square-spot rustic at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera pagesLepiforum

Fauna Europaea
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2597763 Xestia Moths described in 1775 Moths of Africa Moths of Asia Moths of North America Moths of Europe Taxa named by Michael Denis Taxa named by Ignaz Schiffermüller