Grammodes stolida (Fabricius, 1775)
 (one synonym : Noctua cingularis Hübner, 1808)
EREBINAE,   EREBIDAE,   NOCTUOIDEA
 
Don Herbison-Evans
(donherbisonevans@yahoo.com)
and
Stella Crossley


(Photo: courtesy of the Photography Group, Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

The Caterpillar of this species will happily eat the leaves of many plants, and was considered as a control agent for

  • Caltrop ( Tribulis terrestris, ZYGOPHYLLACEAE ).


    (Photo: courtesy of Peter Huemer and the Centre for Biodiversity Genomics, University of Guelph)

    The adult moths are brown with a bold pattern, including a white bar across each wing. The forewings also each have orange and white cusped submarginal arcs, and a white spot on the wingtip. The hindwings each have a white spot near the tornus. The wingspan is about 3.5 cms.

    The species is found across Europe, Africa, and Asia, including

  • Algeria,
  • Botswana,
  • India,
  • Sweden,

    and also in Australia in

  • Western Australia.


    drawing by Jacob Hübner, listed as Noctua cingularis,
    Sammlung Europäischer Schmetterlinge,
    Volume 4 (1808), Plate 76, fig. 352,
    image courtesy of Biodiversity Heritage Library, digitized by Ernst Mayr Library, Harvard University.

    Further reading :

    Johan Christian Fabricius,
    Historiae Natvralis Favtoribvs,
    Systema Entomologiae,
    1775, p. 599, No. 38.

    Jacob Hübner,
    Sammlung Europäischer Schmetterlinge,
    Volume 4 (1808), Plate 76, fig. 352.

    A. Jefferis Turner,
    New Australian Lepidoptera,
    Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia,
    Volume 49 (1925), p. 41.

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    (updated 14 August 2008, 20 August 2019)