Biology:Watsonarctia deserta

Watsonarctia deserta
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Erebidae
Subfamily:	Arctiinae
Genus:	Watsonarctia
Species:	W. deserta
Binomial name
Watsonarctia deserta (Bartel, 1902)
Synonyms
Phalaena (Bombyx) casta Esper, 1784, preoccupied. Eucharia deserta Arctia casta deserta Bartel, 1902 Phragmatobia esperi Koçak, 1980 Eucharia casta sibirica Koshantschikov, 1924 Watsonarctia callesi Gómez Bustillo, 1979

Watsonarctia deserta (=Arctia casta) is a moth of the subfamily Arctiinae. It is found in central and south-eastern Europe, southern Russia , southern Siberia east to Baikal Lake; also in Asia Minor, Armenia, Azerbaijan, northern Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrghyzstan and Chinese Xinjiang.

The wingspan is 26–32 mm.

The larvae feed on Asperula, Achillea and Galium species (including Galium verum and Galium odoratum).

Subspecies

• Watsonarctia deserta deserta (Bartel, 1902) (southern and central Europe, Caucasus, north-western Kazakhstan, southern Siberia, northern Mongolia)
• Watsonarctia deserta karduchena (de Freina, 1983) (Anatolia)
• Watsonarctia deserta centralasiae (O. Bang-Haas, 1927) (mountains of eastern Kazakhstan, Xinjiang, eastern Tien Shan)
• Watsonarctia deserta elbursica Dubatolov et Zahiri, 2005 (northern Iran)

External links

• Fauna Europaea
• Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa
• Lepiforum.de

Wikidata ☰ Q1799451 entry