Brachionycha nubeculosa

Brachionycha nubeculosa
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Superfamily:	Noctuoidea
Family:	Noctuidae
Genus:	Brachionycha
Species:	B. nubeculosa
Binomial name
	Brachionycha nubeculosa; (Esper, 1785)

Brachionycha nubeculosa, the Rannoch sprawler, is a moth of the family Noctuoidea. It is found across the Palearctic from the British Isles in the west, across central and northern Europe over Russia, Siberia to China. The species is only locally distributed in central Europe, but is often relatively common in this region. In southern Europe, the occurrence is limited to some mountainous regions. In Germany, it reaches as far as the summit regions of the low mountain ranges. The species is moisture loving and prefers moist, cool temperate forests, mixed forests, wooded valleys, river and stream edges as well as orchards.

The wingspan is 48–60 mm. Edward Meyrick describes it thus: Forewings pale brownish mixed with whitish and much sprinkled with black; veins marked with blackish; first, median, and second lines dark fuscous; reniform whitish, black edged, enclosing two dark marks; claviform, oval, black edged. Hindwings whitish fuscous, with dark fuscous discal spot and terminal dots. Larva pale yellow green deeper laterally; tubercular dots pale yellow; an oblique lateral streak on 4, and transverse streak on 12 yellow; legs more or less red. The larva habitually rests with the anterior segments strongly thrown back over the body and the legs outspread.^[1]

The moth flies from March to April.^a

The larvae feed on birch, willow, Populus tremula, Prunus padus, Lonicera xylosteum, Tilia, Rhamnus frangula and Aster species.

Notes

^a The flight season refers to Belgium and the Netherlands. This may vary in other parts of the range.

References

^ Meyrick, E. (1895). A Handbook of British Lepidoptera. MacMillan, London. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

External links

Kimber, Ian. "73.066 BF2228 Rannoch Sprawler Brachionycha nubeculosa (Esper, 1785)". UKMoths. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
Mazzei, Paolo; Morel, Daniel & Panfili, Raniero. "Brachionycha nubeculosa (Esper, [1785])". Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
Lepidoptera of Belgium
Lepiforum e. V. (in German)
De Vlinderstichting (in Dutch)

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[1] Meyrick, E. (1895). A Handbook of British Lepidoptera. MacMillan, London. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

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