Small square-spot
species of moth
The small square-spot (Diarsia rubi) is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Karl Friedrich Vieweg in 1790. It is found in Europe apart from the far south-east then east through the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, Central Asia, Siberia, the Russian Far East and Kamchatka.
Description
This is a quite a small species (wingspan 30–38 mm) with dull greyish-pink forewings, varying to red brown, marked with a pale angular mark which gives the species its common name. Forewing with the crosslines and shades olive; the cell brown; reniform with whitish outline; claviform with a dark speck at its end; marginal area dark. The hindwings are pale luteous grey with a pink fringe.
Biology
Two broods are produced each year with the adults flying in May and June and again in August and September. Moths of the second brood are usually smaller and darker than those of the first. The species flies at night and is attracted to light and sugar. It will also visit flowers such as heather and ragwort.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 2, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q44966. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1790.
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This entry incorporates text from “Small square-spot” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.