Biology:Adscita

Adscita is a palaearctic genus of moths of the family Zygaenidae, raised by the Swedish entomologist, Anders Jahan Retzius in 1783. The larvae feed on Cistaceae, Compositae, Globulariaceae and Polygonaceae.

Selected species

• Subgenus Procriterna Efetov & Tarmann, 2004
  • Adscita amaura (Staudinger, 1887)
  • Adscita pligori Efetov, 2012
  • Adscita subdolosa (Staudinger, 1887)
  • Adscita subtristis (Staudinger, 1887)
• Subgenus Adscita Retzius, 1783
  • Adscita albanica (Naufock, 1926)
  • Adscita alpina (Alberti, 1937)
  • Adscita bolivari (Agenjo, 1937)
  • Adscita capitalis (Staudinger, 1879)
  • Adscita dujardini Efetov & Tarmann, 2014
  • Adscita geryon (Hübner, [1813])
  • Adscita italica (Alberti, 1937)
  • Adscita jordani (Naufock, 1921)
  • Adscita krymensis Efetov, 1994
  • Adscita mannii (Lederer, 1853)
  • Adscita mauretanica (Naufock, 1932)
  • Adscita obscura (Zeller, 1847)
  • Adscita schmidti (Naufock, 1933)
  • Adscita statices – green forester (Linnaeus, 1758)

Etymology

Adscita from adscitus, meaning adopted or enrolled was originally a Carl Linnaeus name. Linnaeus divided the hawk-moths into four groups, three of which he called the true hawk-moths and the fourth, ″a group of seven hangers-on, in default of a better position″. In 1783 Retzius was the first to use Adscita as a genus and he kept two of these moths in the Adscita, i.e. statices and filipendulae (which was later assigned to Zygaena. Of the two synonyms for Adscita; the Danish zoologist, Fabricius erected Procris as a genus in 1807. Procris was the daughter of Erechtheus and wife of Cephalus. A second synonyom is Ino.

References

• Adscita at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and some other life forms

Wikidata ☰ Q142893 entry