Noctuidae : Cuculliinae
Wormwood
CUCULLIA (Cucullia) absinthii (Linnaeus, 1761)
Wormwood
CUCULLIA (Cucullia) absinthii (Linnaeus, 1761)
Life Cycle Guide - Europe : Britain - green
Description
Wingspan: 42-45mm
Worldwide Distribution: Europe - excluding (Azores,Balearic Is.,Canary Is.,Corsica,Crete,Cyrus,Greece,Madeira,Malta,Portugal,N Russia, Sardinia & Sicily) : Caucasus : Turkey : N.Iran : W.Siberia : Altai : Tien-Shan : Tarbagata
UK Distribution: Coastal habitats along the coast of southern England and Wales : Urban and bombed industrial sites in the Midlands,Essex and London area : Records along the limestone running through south Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire : Breeding in north Wales,Chilterns and Portland : Devon and Cornwall is now rare : Ireland - from Co Cork - Wexford : Jersey - rare
UK Conservation Status -
Habitat: Where larval food plant dictates : Sea Cliffs : Quarries : Slag Heaps : Broken Tarmac : Dockyerds : Derelict Airfields
Similar Species -
Pupa: Pupates overwinter in a tough silk and earth cocoon among plant debris or beneath soil
Overwinters as: Pupa
Observations: Although similar to the Scarce Wormwood this moth does has dotted figure of eight marking in the stigmata and has bold black forewings where as the similar species is grey.
The moth has two black dashes running parallel with the costa with similarly dotted subterminal line.
As a Nationally Scarce B species the moth is susceptible to cleaning up of derelict sites which destroy breeding areas.
The moth is occasionally attracted to light and is reported on flowers of Red Valerian after dusk.
Worldwide Distribution: Europe - excluding (Azores,Balearic Is.,Canary Is.,Corsica,Crete,Cyrus,Greece,Madeira,Malta,Portugal,N Russia, Sardinia & Sicily) : Caucasus : Turkey : N.Iran : W.Siberia : Altai : Tien-Shan : Tarbagata
UK Distribution: Coastal habitats along the coast of southern England and Wales : Urban and bombed industrial sites in the Midlands,Essex and London area : Records along the limestone running through south Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire : Breeding in north Wales,Chilterns and Portland : Devon and Cornwall is now rare : Ireland - from Co Cork - Wexford : Jersey - rare
UK Conservation Status -
- Nationally Scarce B (Nb - BAP : 1997) = 31 - 100 10Km Squares
- Least Concern
- Phalaena (Noctua) absinthii (Linnaeus, 1761)
- Phalaena umbratica Linnaeus, 1758
- Sweden
Habitat: Where larval food plant dictates : Sea Cliffs : Quarries : Slag Heaps : Broken Tarmac : Dockyerds : Derelict Airfields
Similar Species -
- Scarce Wormwood - Cucullia artemisiae - (Hufnagel, 1766)
Pupa: Pupates overwinter in a tough silk and earth cocoon among plant debris or beneath soil
Overwinters as: Pupa
Observations: Although similar to the Scarce Wormwood this moth does has dotted figure of eight marking in the stigmata and has bold black forewings where as the similar species is grey.
The moth has two black dashes running parallel with the costa with similarly dotted subterminal line.
As a Nationally Scarce B species the moth is susceptible to cleaning up of derelict sites which destroy breeding areas.
The moth is occasionally attracted to light and is reported on flowers of Red Valerian after dusk.
Photo Gallery
Larva
Larval Food Plants Worldwide
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.
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.
- Asteraceae - Compositae - Aster-Daisy - Sunflower Family
- Artemesia absinthium - Wormwood
- Artemesia campestris - Field Southerwood
- Artemesia vulgaris - Mugwort
- Valerianaceae - Valerian Family
- Centranthus ruber - Red Valerian
- Centranthus ruber - Red Valerian
Larval Food Plants
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Taxonomy
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Kingdom:
Subkingdom: Phylum: Subphylum: Class: Order: Superfamily: Family: Subfamily: Genus: Subgenus: Accepted Species Name: Type Species - CUCULLIA: Original Species Name: Species Names: Literary Ref: Type Locality: |
Animalia
Eumetozoa Arthropoda Hexapoda Insecta Lepidoptera Noctuoidea Noctuidae Cuculliinae CUCULLIA Schrank, 1802 culcullia Schrank, 1802 Cucullia (Cucullia) absinthii (Linnaeus, 1761) - Phalaena umbratica Linnaeus, 1758 - PHALAENA (Noctua) absinthii (Linnaeus, 1761) = Phalaena punctigera Hufnagel, 1766 = Cucullia clausa Walker, 1857 = absynthii - Fauna Suecica (Edn 2 enlarged) : Title Page : p.314 - n.1182 - Sweden |