The cloaked minor (Mesoligia furuncula) is a moth of the family Noctuoidea. It is found in the Palearctic realm (Europe, northwest Africa, Russia, Siberia, Japan, north Iran, Afghanistan, and China (Qinghai and Shaanxi).
Mesoligia furuncula | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Family: | Noctuidae |
Genus: | Mesoligia |
Species: | M. furuncula |
Binomial name | |
Mesoligia furuncula (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775) | |
The wingspan is 22–28 mm. The length of the forewings is 10–12 mm. The typical form has the forewing sharply demarcated between a pale distal field and a rufous basal field. The colour and pattern is highly variable and furuncula may look like a lot of the species in the genus Oligia which can be separated by from all but Mesoligia literosa by details of the genitalia. A study of the genitalia of European and Asian specimens of the two Mesoligia species literosa Haworth and furuncula Denis & Schiffermüller showed however that there is no significant intra-specific variation, in these two closely related Oligia species.[1]
The moth flies in one generation from late June to mid September .
The larvae feed on various grasses such as Tufted Hair-grass, Festuca ovina, and Arrhenatherum elatius.[2]
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Taxon identifiers |
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