Cabbage Moth
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Cabbage_Moth".

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Cabbage Moth

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Noctuidae
Genus: Mamestra
Species: M. brassicae
Binomial name
Mamestra brassicae
Linnaeus, 1758

Note: the Small White species of butterfly is commonly called a "cabbage moth" in North America.

The Cabbage Moth (Mamestra brassicae) is a common European moth of the family Noctuidae.

This species varies considerably in size, with a wingspan of 34-50 mm. The forewings are brown and mottled with a prominent white-edged stigma and a broken white subterminal line. The hindwings are grey, darker towards the termen. The prominent spur on the tibia of the foreleg is a diagnostic feature, though is best viewed with a magnifying lens. This moth has a rather complex life history: two or three broods are produced each year and adults can be seen at any time from May to October, occasionally at other times [1]. It flies at night and is attracted to light, sugar and nectar-rich flowers.

The larva is green or brown with dark spots. As the common and scientific names suggest, it can be a pest of cultivated brassicas but it feeds on a wide range of other plants (see list below). Due to its complex life history, this species overwinters either as a larva or a pupa.

  1. ^  The flight season refers to the British Isles. This may vary in other parts of the range.

Recorded food plants

Beet greens with holes eaten by cabbage moth larvae
Beet greens with holes eaten by cabbage moth larvae

References

  • Chinery, Michael Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe 1986 (Reprinted 1991)
  • Skinner, Bernard Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles 1984
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