About Apamea remissa (Hübner)
Apamea remissa (Hübner) is a moth species with a wingspan ranging from 36 to 42 mm. Well-marked individuals of this species are fairly distinctive, but individuals with obscure markings can be difficult to distinguish from other related species. The typical form has pale greyish-brown forewings marked with dark patterns, including a large blackish mark near the dorsum and two spots at the termen. In the most clearly marked forms, the contrast between the pale ground colour and dark shading is pronounced: the ground colour is pale grey, often with a reddish tint, markings are blackish fuscous, small black wedge-shaped marks occur before the submarginal line, and the upper stigmata are whitish. The hindwings are greyish with darker venation. Under the technical synonym P. obscura Haw. (= gemina Hbn., anceps Dup.), the forewing is reddish brown mixed with grey, particularly along the costa and inner margin; the inner and outer lines are dark, conversely edged with pale, and shaped as lunulate-dentate; the submarginal line is pale grey, preceded by a brown shade, and the terminal area is dark fuscous; the claviform mark is obscure and dark-edged; the orbicular and reniform marks are grey with whitish annuli; the hindwing is dirty whitish grey with dark veins and a cellspot, and the termen is diffusely dark fuscous. In the aberration submissa Tr., the forewing has a short black streak from the base below the cell, and an additional black streak on the inner margin near the base, often with a dark cloud above its end; there is a black streak along the submedian fold between the inner and outer lines, below which the inner marginal area is paler, and dark suffusion across the rest of the wing is somewhat stronger. In the aberration remissa Hbn. (= supermissa Spul.), the contrast between the ground colour and dark shading is even more marked: the ground is pale grey, often reddish tinted, markings are blackish fuscous, there are black wedge-shaped marks before the submarginal line, and the upper stigmata are whitish. The larva is grey brown, with blackish tubercles, a whitish dorsal line, and pale subdorsal lines; the broader spiracular line is pale grey, edged dark along its upper edge; spiracles are black, while the head and thoracic plate are black brown. Apamea remissa is difficult to certainly distinguish from its congener Apamea furva. See Townsend et al. for further details.
