Phragmatobia fuliginosa (Linnaeus, 1758)

Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae, ed. 10, vol. 1: p. 509, no. 70.
Described in the genus Phalaena (Noctua). Translated from the Latin
original.

fuliginosa. 70. Phalaena Noctua with spiral tongue, smooth, with deflexed
sooty wings with a black dot; the lower ones red, spotted with black.
It. W-goth. 141. Roes. ins. 1. phal. 2. t. 43. Uddm. diss. 76. Wilk. pap.
23. t. 3. a. 14.
Lives on Sinapis, Rapa, Rumex.
Larva hairy, ferruginous.

Hampson, G. F. (1901). Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalaenae in the British
Museum, vol. 3: pp. 243-244, text-fig. 185.

1672. Phragmatobia fuliginosa.

Noctua fuliginosa, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 509 (1758); Esp. Schmett. iv.
p. 56, pl. 86. ff. 1-5; Hubn. Eur. Schmett. ii. f. 143; Godt. Lep. Fr. iv.
p. 351, pl. 36. f. 4; Steph. Ill. Brit. Ent., Haust. ii. p. 74; Staud. Cat.
p. 59; Kirby, Cat. Het. p. 244.
Arctia rubricosa, Harr. Ins. Mass. p. 253 (1841); Kirby, Cat. Het. p. 245.
Spilosoma fuliginosa, var. borealis, Staud. Cat. p. 59 (1871).
Spilosoma fuliginosa, var. fervida, Staud. Cat. p. 59 (1871); Mill.
Lepidopterologie, vi. p. 4, pl. 8. f. 6.
Spilosoma fuliginosa, var. subnigra, Mill. Lepidopterologie, vi. p. 4,
pl. 8. f. 7 (1881); Kirby, Cat. Het. p. 245.

Head and thorax dark red-brown; palpi crimson at base; shaft of antennae
whitish; legs blackish, fringed with red-brown hair, the femora crimson
above; abdomen crimson above, with series of short dorsal black bands and
lateral series of spots, the ventral surface brown. Fore wing bright
red-brown; thinly scaled; two black discoidal points; traces of a red
streak below costa; cilia redder. Hind wing thinly scaled, suffused with
fuscous black, the veins, two points on discocellulars, and a diffused
terminal band darker; the inner area, costa except at apex, and cilia
bright crimson.

Ab. 1. borealis. Darker; hind wing with traces of crimson on inner area
only or with the cilia also crimson.--Lapland; Scotland.

Ab. 2. fervida. Paler; hind wing crimson; the terminal band sometimes
reduced to four subterminal spots.--C. Europe; Greece; Malta; Morocco.

Hab. Throughout Europe, Germany, Zeller Coll., Switzerland, Frey Coll.,
Greece, Frey & Merlin Colls., Malta (J. J. Walker), Lapland (McLachlan);
Morocco, Esmir (J. J. Walker); W. Asia; Altai; Amur; Canada, Hudson's Bay
(Barnston), Renfrew Co., Grote Coll.; U.S.A., N. Atlantic States, N. York,
Grote Coll. Exp. 32-40 millim.

Larva. Meyr. Brit. Lep. p. 39; Barrett, Lep. Brit. p. 275, pl. 75. f. 1.
Dark grey or brown; hairs brown, reddish or ochreous; head black.
Food-plants, grasses, Rumex, Myosotis, etc. 8-4.

Hampson, G. F. (1920). Catalogue of the Lepidoptera Phalaenae in the British
Museum, Supplement 2: pp. 350-351.

1672. Phragmatobia fuliginosa, insert:

ab. lurida, Roths. Nov. Zool. xvii. p. 115 (1910) for fervida, Staud. nec
Wlk.
ab. flavida, Oberth. Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr. 1901, p. 273; id. Et. Lep. Comp.
xiii. pl. 1535. f. 3747.
= flavescens Schultz, ? ined.; Seitz, Gr.-Schm. pal. ii. p. 79 (1910).
Hind wing yellow. Pyrenees.
ab. pulverulenta, Alph. Rom. Mem. v. p. 84 (1889).
A form with the thorax and abdomen greyish; fore wing pale and
semihyaline.
W. Turkestan, Turcomania; E. Turkestan, Thian-Shan Mts., Gobi Desert.
ab. pallida, Roths. Nov. Zool. xvii. p. 116, pl. 14. f. 38 (1910).
A pale brownish buff form more or less tinged with pale rose-pink.
Tibet, Kuku-Nor; W. China, Kansu.
ab. japonica, Roths. Nov. Zool. xvii. p. 116 (1910).
Fore wing deep dull greyish chocolate; hind wing dull rose with a broad
subterminal black band.
Japan, Yokohama.
ab. amurensis, Staud. ined.; Seitz, Gr.-Schm. pal. ii. p. 79 (1910).
ab. brunnea, Oberth. Et. Lep. Comp. xiii. p. 11, pl. 1535. f. 3751 (1917).
Hind wing with the black markings reduced to the two spots on
discocellulars and small subterminal spots at discal and submedian folds
and above tornus. Tunis.

Seitz, A. (1910). Phragmatobia. In: Seitz, A. (ed.), The Macrolepidoptera
of the World, vol. 2, The Palaearctic Bombyces and Sphinges: p. 79,
pl. 16 b, c. (German edition: Die Gross-Schmetterlinge der Erde 2: 79.)

P. fuliginosa. The ruby tiger has the thorax and forewing dark reddish
brown with a blackish comma-shaped spot at the apex of the cell, edged with
carmine. Hindwing carmine, more or less hyaline in the costal area, with
more or less confluent black spots before the margin and at the apex of the
cell. Throughout Europe and North Asia and parts of North Africa, from the
Atlantic Ocean to Japan, and from Lapland to Morocco, and again in closely
related forms in North America. The name-typical form fuliginosa L. (16 b)
has the forewing rather densely scaled and the hindwing bright rose-red
with distinct black spots. Underside strongly suffused with purple-pink.
Central and West Europe to Anterior Asia. -- In North Europe occurs
borealis Stgr. (16 b), which has vivid black markings and in which the red
is confined to the sides of the abdomen and the anal part of the hindwing.
Scotland, Scandinavia, Finland, Lapland. -- ab. subnigra Mill., with very
dark forewing, must not be confused with the northern form; it is scarcely
darker than true fuliginosa, and not so strongly hyaline as borealis. In
ab. flavescens Schultz the abdomen and hindwing are yellow instead of red.
-- amurensis Stgr. i. l. is a form of the same size as fervida, but is in
colour almost exactly like fuliginosa, the forewing however being broader.
-- pulverulenta Alph. (16 c) is a transition to fervida, the forewing being
lighter than in fuliginosa, more yellowish brown, and the hindwing lighter
and clearer, more flesh-colour, and with well-defined marginal spots; from
Turkestan and Northern China. -- fervida Stgr. (16 b) is the largest and
lightest form. The forewing is strongly tinged with yellowish red, and
therefore almost the same colour as the hindwing, the latter bears strongly
reduced dots; South Europe, North Africa, local. -- placida Friv. (16 c),
from South-East Europe, Asia Minor and Turkestan, is a very large form,
usually regarded as a separate species, with the forewing more triangular
and uniformly dark brown, and the hindwing pure light pink spotted with
black. The forewing bears a carmine dot at the upper angle of the cell. --
Egg reddish grey. Larva light or dark grey with black brown head. The
entire body covered with foxy red hairs; these hairs are always more black
brown in placida, and sometimes so in fuliginosa. In June, late autumn and
after hibernation in April, on low-growing plants, on high-roads, railway
embankments and waste fields. Pupa black with the abdomen marked with
yellow in the segmental incisions. The moth at the end of April and in May,
and again from the end of July, common everywhere on fences and in gardens,
on roads and at brooks.