Kingdom Animalia Superfamily Noctuoidea Genus Wittia Phylum Arthropoda Order Butterflies and moths | Class Insecta Family Erebidae Scientific name Eilema sororcula Rank Species | |
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Similar Katha depressa, Eilema, Butterflies and moths, Manulea complana, Manulea lurideola | ||
Wittia sororcula or Eilema sorcula, the orange footman, is a moth of the family Erebidae. It is found in Europe, Anatolia and further east across the Palearctic to southern Siberia and the Amur basin to China.
Contents
Technical description and variation
The wingspan is 27–30 mm. Forewing with the costa strongly convex and therefore the apical portion of the forewing considerably broader than in the forms of the luterella -group. Head, thorax, end of abdomen and the forewing bright golden yellow, the hindwing of male but little paler; in the female both wings slightly paler orange yellow. In contradistinction to lutarella, the costal area of the hindwing above and beneath is never black.
Transfer from Eilema to Wittia
The orange footman was previously placed in the genus Eilema, but was transferred to the genus Wittia by Dubatolov in 2011.
Subspecies
Biology
The moth flies from April to June depending on the location. Larva blackish, with two yellow dorsal stripes with red dots and white spots. The larvae feed on lichen on trees, both on conifers (Ochsenhemer) and on deciduous trees (Spuler). Can be obtained by beating saplings, also in bushes and in the grass, sometimes feeding at flowers in the daytime.