| L-album Wainscot (Mythimna l-album (Linnaeus, 1767)) |
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Scientific name: Mythimna l-album (Linnaeus, 1767) Common name: L-album Wainscot French name: L blanc, Crochet blanc Order: Lepidoptera Suborder: Heterocera Family: Noctuidae Subfamily: Noctuinae Wingspan: 30-35 mm. Biotope: Damp meadows, waste lands and all places with Graminae plants. Geographic area: Europe north to southern Scandinavia, North Africa, Central Asia. Flight time: June-July then September-October. Number of generations : 2 Caterpillar: Pinkish brown with a thin white dorsal line bordered with grey, one broad brown subdorsal line above another thin white line. The head is pale reddish brown mottled with dark brown. Host plant: Various Poaceae, with a preference for broadleaf species. |
The L-album Wainscot has greyish brown fore wings with an olive brown central area. The second half of the median vein is strongly marked with white and bears a short right-angle hook at the tip. This draws a L character which is the origin of the species name. There are two thin black streaks form the base of the wing to the L mark, one in the middle of the wing and the other one close to the inner edge. The veins are white and bordered with black starting from the L mark up to the margin of the wing. You can distinguish two light-coloured oblique bands, from the apex to the inner edge and from the middle of the margin to the inner edge. They are over an olive brown ground colour with black markings between the veins. The hind wings are grey with slightly darker veins. The L-album Wainscot over winters as a caterpillar. The Smoky Wainscot (Mythimna impura) has white veins extending up to the base of the fore wings. There is no L marking. |
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No doubt about the L-album Wainscot species identification. |
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Side view. |
André Bon July 2016