Flame (moth)

This species has creamy-buff forewings (sometimes tinged with red) with black streaking along the costa. The hindwings are whitish with a dark line along the margin. The wingspan is 30-36 mm. Unusually for a noctuid, this moth rests with its wings wrapped tightly around its body making it resemble a broken twig. It flies at night in June and July (sometimes a second brood is produced which flies in September) and is attracted to light.

The larva is grey or brown with black markings and a hump at the rear end. It feeds on a variety of cereals and other herbaceous plants (see list below). The species overwinters as a pupa.

1. The flight season refers to the British Isles. This may vary in other parts of the range.

Recorded food plants

• Beta - Beet
• Galium - Bedstraw
• Hordeum - Barley
• Lotus - Bird's-foot Trefoil
• Medicago - Alfalfa
• Polygonum
• Rumex - Dock
• Secale - Rye
• Taraxacum - Dandelion
• Trifolium - Clover
• Triticum - Wheat
• Urtica - Nettle
• Vicia

External links

• The Flame at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera pages

References

• Chinery, Michael Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe 1986 (Reprinted 1991)
• Skinner, Bernard Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles 1984