Four-spotted Moth (Tyta luctuosa (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775))
Scientific name: Tyta luctuosa (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775)
Common name: Four-spotted Moth
Other names: Field Bindweed Moth
French name: Noctuelle en deuil, Funèbre
Order: Lepidoptera
Suborder: Heterocera
Family: Noctuidae
Subfamily: Catocalinae
Wingspan: 22-25 mm.
Biotope: Open habitats, sandy or chalky places, meadows, waste lands, dunes.
Geographic area: Europe, Asia, North Africa. Introduced to the United States of America to control the proliferation of Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis).
Flight time: April to June and then August to September.
Number of generations : 2, 3 in the southern regions.
Caterpillar: Ochre russet colour with two dark brown interrupted dorsal lines, marked with small white spots. There is a broad pale cream stripe on each lateral side of the body, just below the black spiracles.
Host plant: Bindweeds of the Convolvulus genus and in particular Field Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) and also Common Plantain (Plantago major).
The Four-spotted Moth shows brownish black fore wings with a large white patch on the costal edge that ends in a rounded shape.
The area close to the apex of the wing is darker and the area close to the anal angle is paler and mottled.
The hind wings show a wide black marginal stripe marked with a small white spot next to the anal angle. They are crossed by a broad white median stripe. The basal area is greyish. The fringe of the hind wings shows a thin dark grey line surrounded by a pale colour.
Aedia funesta has a more triangular shaped patch on the costal edge of the forewings with a small and thin extension at its tip.
The Four-spotted Moth is active during the night but you can observe it on flowers during sunny days.
It is attracted to light.
The Four-spotted Moth over winters as a pupa inside a hard cocoon.

Four-spotted Moth (Tyta luctuosa) - Yvelines, France - June 19th 2011
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Four-spotted Moth (Tyta luctuosa)
The white patch on the fore wings is enough to tell the Four-spotted Moth apart, however this is a difficulty for the photographer who may gets this area overexposed (and this has happened to me ...)


Four-spotted Moth (Tyta luctuosa) - Saône-et-Loire, France - August 12th 2021
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Four-spotted Moth (Tyta luctuosa)
Attracted to light this Four-spotted Moth entered the house.

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