| Shaded Fan-foot (Herminia tarsicrinalis (Knoch, 1782)) |
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Scientific name: Herminia tarsicrinalis (Knoch, 1782) Common name: Shaded Fan-foot French name: Herminie de la Ronce Order: Lepidoptera Suborder: Heterocera Family: Erebidae Subfamily: Herminiinae Wingspan: 28-32 mm. Biotope: Deciduous forests, waste lands and bushes with Brambles. Geographic area: Europe except extreme northern regions, temperate Asia east to China and Japan. Flight time: May to September. Number of generations : 1 or 2 depending on location. Caterpillar: Brown with a dark dorsal stripe marked with lighter-coloured chevrons. Host plant: Caterpillars feed on dead leaves of Brambles (Rubus) and Clematis. |
The Shaded Fan-foot shows pale brown fore wings crossed by a darker broad median band with diffuse edges. They are also crossed by three thin dark brown lines. One straight or very slightly wavy antemedian line showing only an angle close to the costal edge. One heavily wavy median line located just behind the aforementioned broad dark band. One straight antemarginal line that reaches the costal edge a little before the apex of the wing. The disc cell has a short dark brown curved marking. The hind wings are the same colour as the fore wings, but paler. Here are some indications on some species of the same subfamily that are sometimes difficult to differentiate. The Small Fan-foot (Herminia grisealis) has a slightly curved antemarginal line that ends at the apex of the wing. The Fan-foot (Herminia tarsipennalis) has a more uniform ground colour, without any broad dark median band. |
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The lamppost that illuminates part of the farmyard attracts moths when lit. This allows me to add a few species to my observation list. I hope not to have made a mistake in the identification of the species because the differences with similar species are sometimes difficult to assess. I based myself here on the shape of the three thin cross lines and on the presence of a broad dark median band. |
André Bon December 2022