About the Common Rustic
Mesapamea secalis, the common rustic, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is found in Europe, north-west Africa, Turkey and northern Iran.
The species was formerly considered the same species as the lesser common rustic (Mesapamea didyma) and Remm's rustic (Mesapamea remmi). All three were raised to species level. See Townsend et al. for diagnoses. P. secalis L. (= lamda View., lancea Esp., vilis Hbn.). Forewing varying in ground colour from bluish white, cream white, through pale and dark grey, sometimes ochreous or brownish-tinged, to grey brown, redbrown. or purplish brown; the median area and terminal area darker, fuscous brown or blackish brown, generally with a broad black brown streak from below the claviform stigma along submedian fold to outer line; a black dash from base below cell, and a black streak above inner margin near base; inner and outer lines double, dark, conversely lunulate-dentate; submarginal line pale with a narrow dark shading preceding it; claviform stigma small, black-edged; orbicular oblique, oval, of the ground colour... Wikipedia →