# Euxoa obelisca > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Euxoa_obelisca > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Euxoa_obelisca.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euxoa_obelisca > Source revision: 1326767399 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Species of moth Square-spot dart Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Clade: Pancrustacea Class: Insecta Order: Lepidoptera Superfamily: Noctuoidea Family: Noctuidae Genus: Euxoa Species: E. obelisca Binomial name Euxoa obelisca Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775 ***Euxoa obelisca***, the **square-spot dart**, is a [moth](/source/Moth) of the family [Noctuidae](/source/Noctuidae). It is found in the [Palearctic realm](/source/Palearctic_realm) (Europe, [Central Asia](/source/Central_Asia), [North Africa](/source/North_Africa) [Asia minor](/source/Asia_minor)). Mounted ## Technical description and variation For a key to the terms used, see [Glossary of entomology terms](/source/Glossary_of_entomology_terms). Forewing purplish brown; costa pale to outer line: cell dark brown; stigmata large, greyish ochreous: the claviform dark; hindwing in male white, with narrow grey shade along margin, in female more or less grey-tinged throughout.- in ab. *[fictilis](/source/Euxoa_aquilina)* Hbn. the forewing is more variegated, the submarginal line preceded by a row of distinct black teeth; - ab. *[ruris](/source/Euxoa_temera)* Hbn., larger than typical, reddish grey or reddish brown, with or without the pale costa: stigmata large and pale: - ab. *[villiersii](/source/Euxoa_temera)* Guen. is also larger than typical; forewing ochreous grey with costa and both stigmata whitish, darker in the female; — ab. *plectoides* Guen. the same size as type, forewing with more acute apex, deep shining violet brown, with traces of subterminal only: costa and stigmata (which are small) pale testaceous; the orbicular somewhat angulated, the reniform constricted in middle: claviform obsolete: the cell deep black; hindwing very dark; described from a female only from Lapland; omitted by Staudinger, but probably a distinct species: a very distinct form from the Urals, which may be called ab. *carbonis* nov.[Warren] has the ground colour purplish black, with the costal streak and upper stigmata pale and the cell deep black: all the lines indistinct: several examples of both sexes sent from Uralsk by M. Bartel.[1] Figs 4, 4a larva after last moult The caterpillar is obscure greyish or brownish, with a dark-edged pale line along the middle of the dorsum, and a dusky line on each side of it; low down on the sides is another dusky line. ## Biology The moth flies from July to October depending on the location. The larvae feed on various herbaceous plants, such as *[Helianthemum nummularium](/source/Helianthemum_nummularium)* and *[Galium](/source/Galium)* species.[2] ## Similar species *Euxoa obelisca* is difficult to certainly distinguish from its congeners. See Townsend et al.[3] - *[Euxoa tritici](/source/Euxoa_tritici)* (Linnaeus, 1761) - *[Euxoa nigricans](/source/Euxoa_nigricans)* (Linnaeus, 1761) - *[Euxoa cursoria](/source/Euxoa_cursoria)* (Hufnagel, 1766) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Seitz, A. Ed., 1914 *Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde*, Verlag Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart Band 3: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen eulenartigen Nachtfalter, 1914 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Robinson, G. S., P. R. Ackery, I. J. Kitching, G. W. Beccaloni & L. M. Hernández, 2010. HOSTS – A Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants. Natural History Museum, London"](http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/research/projects/hostplants/). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Martin C. Townsend, Jon Clifton and Brian Goodey (2010). [*British and Irish Moths: An Illustrated Guide to Selected Difficult Species*](https://butterfly-conservation.org/uploads/Difficult_species_guide_page_44.pdf). (covering the use of genitalia characters and other features) Butterfly Conservation. ## External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Euxoa obelisca](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Euxoa_obelisca). - [Lepiforum](http://www.lepiforum.de/cgi-bin/lepiwiki.pl?Euxoa_Obelisca) - [Funet](http://www.nic.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/noctuoidea/noctuidae/noctuinae/euxoa/index.html) Taxonomy - [Fauna Europaea](https://fauna-eu.org) - [waarneming.nl (in Dutch)](https://web.archive.org/web/20120910223759/http://waarneming.nl/soort.php?id=10009) - [Vlindernet (in Dutch)](http://www.vlindernet.nl/vlindersoort.php?vlinderid=512) - [Square-spot dart at UKmoths](https://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?id=3315) Taxon identifiers Euxoa obelisca Wikidata: Q1945677 BioLib: 54609 CoL: 933RM EoL: 453525 EPPO: EUXOOB Fauna Europaea: 448556 Fauna Europaea (new): 154b5275-e580-468d-bcfc-0cc66cda8296 GBIF: 1772956 iNaturalist: 325488 LoB: 6426 MaBENA: EuxoaObeli NBN: NHMSYS0000520123 NCBI: 987939 Observation.org: 10009 Open Tree of Life: 785808 --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Euxoa obelisca](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euxoa_obelisca) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euxoa_obelisca?action=history)). 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