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Tawny pinion
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Clade:	Pancrustacea
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Superfamily:	Noctuoidea
Family:	Noctuidae
Genus:	Lithophane
Species:	L. semibrunnea
Binomial name
Lithophane semibrunnea (Haworth, 1809)

Lithophane semibrunnea, the tawny pinion, is a moth of the Noctuoidea family. It is found in scattered populations in North Africa, central and southern Europe and Asia Minor.

Technical description and variation

For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

The wingspan is 40–44 mm. Forewing dull wood brown, the inner-marginal half suffused with black brown, blackest on inner margin and in outer half of submedian interspace; veins marked with black scales; lines indistinct; the outer marked by pairs of black dots on veins and a white crescent on submedian fold; the submarginal line by a slighter one; hindwing greyish brown, paler in male, with the terminal area darker. Characteristic of newly emerged moths is a black-brown, often blue shimmering dorsal line, as well as black-brown lines on the shoulders. The dorsal crests on the abdomen are also black-blue; The anterior edge of the forewing is straight compared to other species of the genus, e.g. Lithophane socia.

Figs.4, 4a larva after last moult

Biology

The moth flies in late autumn.

Larva green; dorsal and subdorsal lines white; spiracular line broad, yellowish white, much varied with white dots and streaks below; head greenish; feeding on ash and other trees. The larvae mainly feed on Fraxinus excelsior.

External links

• Tawny pinion at UKmoths
• Fauna Europaea
• Lepiforum.de
• Vlindernet.nl (in Dutch)