Mythimna impura (Hübner, 1808)


Mythimna impura: Adult [S] Mythimna impura: Adult [S] Mythimna impura: Adult (e.l. eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany) [S] Mythimna impura: Adult [S] Mythimna impura: Adult (e.l. eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany 2010) [S] Mythimna impura: Adult (e.l. Memmingen 2010) [S] Mythimna impura: Adult (e.l. Upper Rhine, sandy grassland near Philipsburg, 2011) [S] Mythimna impura: Adult (e.l. Schwäbisch Gmünd 2011) [S] Mythimna impura: Adult (e.l. limestone grassland near Trugenhofen, eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany, 2010) [S] Mythimna impura: Adult (e.l. limestone grassland near Trugenhofen, eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany, 2010) [S] Mythimna impura: Adult (e.l. eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany 2010, Rauhe Wiese, forest clearing) [S] Mythimna impura: Young larva in the autumn (eastern Swabian Alb) [M] Mythimna impura: Young larva [S] Mythimna impura: Young larva (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany 2010) [S] Mythimna impura: Young larva (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany 2010) [S] Mythimna impura: Young larva (Schwäbisch Gmünd, October 2011) [S] Mythimna impura: Young larva (Schwäbisch Gmünd, October 2011) [S] Mythimna impura: Half-grown larva (Upper Rhine Valley, sandy grassland, November 2011) [S] Mythimna impura: Half-grown larva [S] Mythimna impura: Half-grown larva [S] Mythimna impura: Half-grown larva (Upper Rhine Valley, sandy grassland, November 2011) [S] Mythimna impura: Half-grown larva (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany 2010) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva in penultimate instar (Upper Rhine 2011) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva in penultimate instar (Upper Rhine 2011) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva (Upper Rhine 2011) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva (Upper Rhine 2011) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva [S] Mythimna impura: Larva [S] Mythimna impura: Larva (Upper Rhine 2011) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany 2010) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany 2010) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany 2010) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany 2010) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany 2010) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany 2010) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva (Upper Rhine 2011) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva (Upper Rhine 2011) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany 2010) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany 2010) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany 2010) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva (Schwäbisch Gmünd 2011) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva (Schwäbisch Gmünd 2011) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva [S] Mythimna impura: Larva Mythimna impura: Larva (Upper Rhine 2011) [S] Mythimna impura: Larva (Schwäbisch Gmünd 2011) [S] Mythimna impura: Pupa (e.l. eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany 2010) [S] Mythimna impura: Pupa [S] Mythimna impura: Pupa (Schwäbisch Gmünd 2011) [S] Mythimna impura: Pupa (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany 2010) [S] Mythimna impura: Pupa [S] Mythimna impura: Habitat: wer depression near Memmingen, S-Germany, June 2011. [N] Mythimna impura: Habitat on the eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany (May 2011) [N] Mythimna impura: Habitat in a calcareous fen near Memmingen (July 2011) [N] Mythimna impura: Larval habitat in a dry sandy grassland at the Upper Rhine north of Karlsruhe (October 2011) [N] Mythimna impura: Larval habitat on a humid clearing with Coenonympha hero and on the edge also Mythimna turca (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany, late October 2010). [N]

Host plants:
The caterpillars live on grasses (mainly Poaceae, presumably also Cyperaceae). Own observations were made on Molinia caerulea, Arrhenaterum elatius, Deschampsia caespitosa, Dactylus glomerata, Calamagrostis epigejos, Phalaris arundinacea and Bromus erectus.

Habitat:
Mythimna impura inhabits in particular wetlands, also small-scale wetland remnants. It is relatively adaptable and therefore still quite widespread. It also occurs in more humid forest fringes (e.g. in Coenonympha hero-habitats on the eastern Swabian Alb).

Mythimna impura penetrates according to numerous own observations also in drier habitats. I found caterpillars in less xerothermic limestone grasslands (eastern Swabian Alb) and denser growing sandy grasslands (Upper Rhine, here together with Mythimna pallens and the grasshopper Chorthippus mollis and Oedipoda caerulescens).

Life cycle:
The moths fly in a single or two generations, depending on the altitude and region between late May or June to August/early September. The caterpillar overwinters and can be tapped in the autumn during the day and searched with a pocket lamp in the spring.

Remarks:
Mythimna impura is widespread in Europe and temperate Asia to Japan.



Mythimna albipunctata | Mythimna anderreggii | Mythimna congrua | Mythimna conigera | Mythimna ferrago | Mythimna l-album | Mythimna languida | Mythimna litoralis | Mythimna pallens | Mythimna pudorina | Mythimna riparia | Mythimna scirpi | Mythimna straminea | Mythimna turca | Mythimna unipuncta | Mythimna velutina | Mythimna vitellina 
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