Rank Species | Genus Mesoligia Order Butterflies and moths | |
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Similar Mesoligia, Butterflies and moths, Oligia fasciuncula, Marbled minor, Tawny Marbled Minor | ||
The cloaked minor (Mesoligia furuncula) is a moth of the family Noctuoidea. It is found in the Palearctic ecozone (Europe, north-west Africa, Russia, Siberia, Japan, north Iran, Afghanistan and China (Qinghai, Shaanxi).
Contents
Description
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.
Biology
The moth flies in one generation from late June to mid September [2].
The larvae feed on various grasses such as Tufted Hair-grass, Festuca ovina, and Arrhenatherum elatius.
