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Hepialidae

Common Swift

KORSCHELTELLUS lupulina (Linnaeus, 1758)
Picture
Life Cycle Guide
Picture
Description
Wingspan: Male 25-33mm Female 32-40mm
Worldwide Distribution: Europe - excluding (Estonia,Slovenia & Most Mediterranean Islands)
UK Distribution: Mainland Britain,Scilly Isles,Isle of Man,Channel Isles - Common in most parts but more local further north : Scotland - local : Ireland - very local and coastal
UK Conservation Status -
  • Common = > 300 10km squares
European Conservation Status -
  • Least Concern
Original Species Name -
  • Phalaena (Noctua) lupulina (Linnaeus, 1758)
Type Species - Korscheltellus
  • Phalaena lupulina (Linnaeus, 1758)
Type Locality -
  • Europe
Flight Period: End April - July
Habitat: Open Grassland : Gardens : Roadside Verges : Heathland : Moorland
Similar Species -
  • None - easy to identify
Larva: The 25mm larva is glossy, greyish white with brown head, and each abdominal segment has several dark hairs growing from and orange wart.
Pupa: Pupates underground
Overwinters as: Larva
Observations: Wing markings of the male vary greatly both in colour raging from whiteish to pale brown to grey and intensity from strongly marked individuals to plain with no markings.The white lines emanating from the basal and termen areas form an inverted letter "V" on the forewing.
Females are slightly larger with wing markings much less marked than the male.
The Common Swift as the name suggests is the most common of the Swift Moths and is regularly encountered near any light source like security lights or underpass.
Photo Gallery
Larval Food Plants Worldwide
Note - larvae feed on roots of larval plants listed below
Note - Plants hyperlinked in red below take the visitor to the relevant plant page on"Plants for a Future" website where further information like photos,physical characteristics,habitats,edible uses,medicinal uses,cultivation,propagation,range,height etc. are clearly listed.
  • Plant Families - in bold red below takes the visitor to the relevant "Lepi-plants" page where other butterflies & moths using the plants below are listed.
Larval Food Plants
Taxonomy
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Type Species - KORSCHELTELLUS:

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Subspecies:
Animalia
Eumetozoa
Arthropoda
Hexapoda
Insecta
Lepidoptera
Hepialoidea
Hepialidae
KORSCHELTELLUS Börner,1920
Korscheltellus lupulina (Linnaeus, 1758)
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Phalaena lupulina (Linnaeus, 1758)
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Phalaena (Noctua) lupulina (Linnaeus, 1758)
= Hepialus lupulinus (Linnaeus, 1758)
= Pharmacis lupulina (Linnaeus, 1758)
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Syst.Nat. (Edn 10) 1 : Title page : p.508 - n.63
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Europe
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K.l.f.reducta van de Pol, 1961 - forewing spots  reduced
K.l.f.continua van de Pol, 1961 - spots merge
K.l.f.obscura van de Pol, 1961 - darker
K.l.f. pallida Lempke, 1961 - lighter
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K.l.dacicus Caradja, 1893 - forewing dark grey,markings reducedv-Romania,Hungary,Dalmatia,S Germany