About Orthosia gothica Linnaeus, 1758
Technical description and variation: The wingspan of Orthosia gothica Linnaeus, 1758 ranges from 30 to 40 mm. The forewing is sandy rufous, speckled with black, and the median area is generally a deeper rufous. Lines are browner; in some specimens the forewing is purplish red brown, with pale, poorly defined lines that are only distinguished by black spots at the costa. The cell of the forewing is black, and the stigmata are pale and large. The claviform stigma is connected to the outer line by a black bar; above this bar, the base of vein 2 is often surrounded by rufous colouring. The hindwing is fuscous. The size of the orbicular stigma is variable, and the amount and shape of the black filling in the cell varies with this change in stigma size. In the aberration gothicina H.-Sch., black markings are replaced by olive brown or rufous; this is a northern form found in Scotland, Scandinavia, Finland, and the Tarbagatai Mountains. The taxon askoldensis Stgr., now treated as the full species Orthosia askoldensis from Amurland and Japan, has a more violet-grey ground colour. Aberration pallida Tutt (22b) has a pale whitish ochreous ground colour. In rufescens Tutt, the reddish tint is predominant. In rufa Tutt, the ground colour is red. In brunnea Tutt, rufous tints are replaced by purplish brown. Recorded food plants are listed in Robinson, G. S et al.
