Manulea complana
species of insect
Manulea complana, the scarce footman, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is found throughout the Palearctic region.
Technical description and variation
The wingspan is 28–35 mm. It is very like Eilema morosinum (Herrich-Schäffer, [1847]) but the forewing not so elongate, and the angles not so accentuated, the costal streak broader and brighter yellow, the hindwing duller, not so transparent; the apex of the abdomen brighter yellow. On the underside the disc is very blackish iron grey, and contrasts vividly with the orange-yellow costa and the broad pale yellow marginal area. Hindwing beneath pale yellow, the costa deeper yellow; below costa a grey streak from the base.
Biology
The moth flies from June to August depending on the location.
Larva blackish dorsally, with narrow lighter lines; subdorsal lines composed of small reddish yellow and white spots; lateral line interrupted, reddish yellow. The larvae feed on lichens such as Parmelia, and also dry and tender leaves.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Manulea complana” is species of insect. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Manulea, complana and species, not as a finished interpretation.
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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 Apr 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q218373. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1758 and 1847.
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This entry incorporates text from “Manulea complana” 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.