Бабочка Callistege mi (Мотылёк Шipton)

Species of moth

Callistege mi, the Mother Shipton moth, is a moth of the family Erebidae. It was classified by Carl Alexander Clerck in 1759, and is also known under the name of Euclidia mi. In Finnish it is known as piirtoyökkönen and in German as Scheck Tageule.

The adult moth's forewing is 13 to 16 mm (0.51 to 0.63 inches) long, and the wingspan is 25 to 30 mm (0.98 to 1.18 inches). Forewings are black slightly dusted with grey. Lines are whitish, the subbasal ending in a grey edged black spot on inner margin; the inner is obliquely curved outwards; the outer is angled at vein 6, indented on 4 and angled inwards below vein 2, running upwards and outwards below reniform, then downwards again parallel to its former course, and finally running in to the inner line above inner margin. Orbicular stigma is a round black spot with grey outline; reniform large and black, edged externally by a white bar, which often emits a narrow pale line externally from its middle subterminal line sinuous, double, somewhat lunulate, with dark centre and pale scaled edges, except at costa where it is single and white, preceded by oblong black spots separated by the pale veins. Hindwings have the cell ochreous white, containing a black cellspot; outer and subterminal sinuous series of ochreous white spots between the veins. Fringe of both wings are mottled black and white, with pale line at base; underside is ochreous white. The larva is yellowish with a dorsal line dark, finely pale in centre and with several fine wavy lines on each side. The spiracular line is broad, dark reddish brown, edged below with yellow or red.

The stages of its life cycle are as follows: egg: MaySeptember, larva: JuneSeptember, pupa: JulyMay, and imago: MayJuly. Among its foods is the nectar of the white clover and the creeping buttercup. This poem told of "Carriages without horses" and air planes, as well as predicting the end of the world in 1881.