Shargacucullia lychnitis

Shargacucullia lychnitis, the striped lychnis is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found throughout most parts of Europe the Near East and Middle East (Lebanon, Israel, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkmenistan and Iraq).

Larvae

Shargacucullia lychnitis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Superfamily:	Noctuoidea
Family:	Noctuidae
Genus:	Shargacucullia
Species:	S. lychnitis
Binomial name
Shargacucullia lychnitis (Rambur, 1833)
Synonyms
Cucullia lychnitis Rambur, 1833 Cucullia rosamaria Kostrowicki, 1956 Cucullia symaea Koutsaftikis, 1974

Technical description and variation

For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

C. lychnitis Rmb. (27 g). Forewing narrow, pale ochreous with a more rufous tinge than in thapsiphaga [Shargacucullia thapsiphaga (Treitschke, 1826) ], the costal streak darker; hindwing in both sexes whitish, the terminal shade narrower in the male. Larva greenish white with a pale yellow band on each segment; a dorsal row of curved black bars alternating with rows of 4 black spots; a row of black spots along the sides.^[1] The wingspan is 42–47 mm.

Figs.3, 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d larvae after last moult

Biology

Adults are on wing from February to April in the eastern parts of its range. In Britain it is on wing from June to July. There is one generation per year.

The larvae feed on the leaves and flowers of Verbascum species (including Verbascum lychnitis, Verbascum nigrum and Verbascum austriacum).

Subspecies

• Shargacucullia lychnitis lychnitis
• Shargacucullia lychnitis albicans (eastern part of the range)

Similar species

Shargacucullia lychnitis is difficult to certainly distinguish from these congeners. See Townsend et al.^[2]

• Shargacucullia scrophulariae ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775)
• Shargacucullia verbasci (Linnaeus, 1758)