Spilosoma lubricipedum (Linnaeus, 1758)

Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae, ed. 10, vol. 1: pp. 505-506, no. 47.
Described in the genus Phalaena (Bombyx). Translated from the Latin
original.

lubricipeda. 47. Phalaena Bombyx with spiral tongue, with deflexed whitish
wings with black dots, and the abdomen dotted with black in five rows.
Fn. svec. 823. Frisch. ins. 3. t. 8. Goed. ins. 1. t. 23, 38. Reaum. ins.
2. t. 1. f. 7-9. List. goed. f. 93. De Geer ins. 1. t. 11. f. 7, 8. Roes.
ins. 1. phal. 2. t. 46. Wilk. pap. 20. t. 3. a. 5.
β. Roes. ins. 1. phal. 2. t. 47. Wilk. pap. 20. t. 3. a. 6.
Lives on Quercus, Atriplex, Urtica.
Larva hairy, brown with blue dots, with a pale dorsal line. That the
variety β is not a distinct species Mr. De Geer has shown.

Hampson, G. F. (1901). Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalaenae in the British
Museum, vol. 3: pp. 271-272. As Diacrisia lubricipeda.

1719. Diacrisia lubricipeda.

Bombyx lubricipeda, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 505 (1758); Kirby, Cat. Het.
p. 227.
Bombyx lubricipeda alba, Hufn. Berl. Mag. ii. p. 412 (1766).
Phalaena lepus, Retz. Gen. Spec. Ins. p. 37 (1783).
Bombyx menthastri, Esp. Schmett. iii. p. 334, pl. 66. ff. 6-10 (1786); Hubn.
Eur. Schmett. ii. ff. 152, 153; Godt. Lep. Fr. iv. p. 362, pl. 37. ff. 5,
6; Steph. Ill. Brit. Ent., Haust. ii. p. 75, pl. 16. f. 3; Staud. Cat.
p. 59.
Bombyx mendica, Rossi, Faun. Etrusc. ii. p. 174 (1790).
Phalaena erminea, Marsh. Trans. Linn. Soc. i. p. 70, pl. 1. f. 1 (1791).
Chelonia luxerii, Godt. Lep. Fr. iv. p. 360, pl. 37. f. 4 (1822).
Spilosoma sangaica, Wlk. xxxi. 294 (1864); Butl. Ill. Het. iii. p. 5,
pl. 42. f. 5 (1879); Kirby, Cat. Het. p. 228.

Pure white; palpi, antennae, and throat dark brown; legs streaked with
black, the femora orange above; abdomen orange above except the basal and
terminal segments, dorsal, lateral, and sublateral series of black spots.
Fore wing with basal and subbasal black points below costa; antemedial and
medial series of points angled on median nervure; a point in upper angle of
cell, with another above it on costa; a postmedial series of points
excurved beyond cell; an oblique series from apex to vein 5; short
subterminal streaks on each side of veins 3-5; points on termen above vein
5 and below 2 sometimes present. Hind wing usually with discoidal spot and
sometimes subterminal points above vein 5 and below 2.

Ab. 1. Fore wing with the number of black points more or less reduced,
especially in the postmedial and subterminal series; this being most marked
in the Japanese and Chinese form sangaica.

Ab. 2. Wings quite white, except the discal spot of hind wing.--Murree.

Ab. 3. Fore wing with the interspaces streaked with black, leaving the
veins, streaks in the interspaces, and series of spots on terminal area
white.

Ab. 4. luxeri. Fore wing tinged with flesh-pink and with fuscous suffusion
on inner area; hind wing tinged with pale yellow.

Ab. 5. Head, thorax, and fore wing strongly tinged with ochreous.

Hab. C. & N. Europe, Zeller and Frey Colls.; Spain; Italy; E. Europe;
Armenia; Altai; Amur; Japan, Nagasaki (Leech), 1 ♀, Tsu-Shima (Seebohm),
1 ♂, (Lewis, Fenton) 4 ♂, 3 ♀, Nikko, 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Yokohama (Manley), 1 ♂;
Corea, Gensan (Leech), 1 ♂; China, Shanghai (J. J. Walker), 1 ♂, 3 ♀ type
sangaica, Kwei-chow, 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Omei-shan, 1 ♂, Washan (Pratt), 1 ♂, 1 ♀,
Chia-kou-ho (Pratt), 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Chang-yang (Pratt), 1 ♂, Moupin
(Kricheldorff), 1 ♂, 1 ♀; N.W. Himalayas, Murree (Yerbury), 1 ♀. Exp.
34-46 millim.

Larva. Meyr. Brit. Lep. p. 40; Barrett, Lep. Brit. ii. p. 28, pl. 77.
f. 1b.
Brown; hairs long, brown; dorsal line ochreous; spiracles white; head
black. Food-plants: Plantago, Mentha, Rumex, etc. 7-9.

Hampson, G. F. (1920). Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalaenae in the British
Museum, Supplement 2: p. 368. As Spilosoma lubricipeda.

1719. Spilosoma lubricipeda, insert

ab. paucipuncta, Fuchs, Jahrb. Nass. Ver. lvi. p. 70 (1903).
= sangaica.
ab. unipuncta, Strand, Arch. Naturv. Christian. xxv. no. 9, p. 23 (1903).
Hind wing with discoidal point only. Norway.
ab. ochrea, Linstow, Intern. Ent. Zeit. v. p. 265 (1911).
for ab. 5.
ab. brunnea, Oberth. Et. Lep. Comp. vi. p. 326, pl. cxxii. ff. 1073-8
(1912).
Fore wing tinged with brown.
ab. transitoria, Oberth. Et. Lep. Comp. vi. p. 326, pl. cxxii. ff. 1079-80
(1912).
ab. godarti, Oberth. Et. Lep. Comp. vi. p. 326, pl. cxxii. ff. 1085-6
(1912).

Seitz, A. (1910). Spilosoma. In: Seitz, A. (ed.), The Macrolepidoptera of
the World, vol. 2, The Palaearctic Bombyces and Sphinges: p. 87, pl. 15 f,
g. (German edition: Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 2: 87.) As Spilosoma
menthastri Esp., with lubricipeda Hampson as a synonym.

S. menthastri Esp. (= erminea Marsh., lepus Retz., mendica Rossi,
lubricipeda Hamps.) (15 f). Milky white, abdomen orange with black dorsal
dots. Forewing more or less sprinkled with sharply defined black dots, of
which there are always some at the costa and others arranged in rows in the
disc. Hindwing with discal dots and often with anal ones and others.
Antennae black. In specimens from Northern Scotland the forewing is sandy
yellow: ab. ochrea (ab. 5 in Hampson), also found elsewhere as an exception
among true menthastri (15 g). The forewing may be darkened to brown; this
is the case in ab. brunnea Oberth. In ab. luxeri Godt. the forewing is
suffused with rose-red distally and brownish proximally. In ab. walkeri
Curt. the dots merge together to form radial streaks. Throughout Europe
with the exception of the South, and in Central and North Asia to Amurland,
China and Japan; here it usually occurs in the form sangaica Walk., which
is only distinguished from true menthastri by the sparse dots, especially
in the outer area of the forewing. Specimens similar to sangaica occur
aberratively also in Europe, bearing the name paucipuncta Fuchs, and in
contradistinction to it there is the very strongly dotted krieghoffi Pabst.
A still further reduction of the dots leads to ab. unipuncta Strand, in
which there is only one dot on the hindwing. -- punctarium Cr. (=
roseiventer Snell., doerriesi Oberth.) (15 g) is distinguished from
menthastri by the carmine abdomen with sharp transverse spots, and by the
wings being rather more spotted, being quite different from sangaica, with
which it shares its native country. East Asia. It is probably because
menthastri occurs in China as sangaica that many authors regard punctarium
as a separate species. -- Egg light yellow. Larva black-brown, with deep
dark brown hair and orange-yellow dorsal stripe. On low-growing plants.