The Tawny Marbled Minor (Oligia latruncula) is a species of moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

 belonging to the family Noctuidae

Noctuidae

The Noctuidae or owlet moths are a family of robustly-built moths that includes more than 35,000 known species out of possibly 100,000 total, in more than 4,200 genera. They constitute the largest family in the Lepidoptera....

. It is distributed throughout Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

.

This species is extremely similar to the Marbled Minor

Marbled Minor

The Marbled Minor is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is distributed throughout Europe.This is a rather small species , the forewings usually being dark brown with a pale subterminal band, the hindwings pale brown. Melanic forms are often encountered, especially in industrial areas...

 (Oligia strigilis) and the Rufous Minor

Rufous Minor

The Rufous Minor is a species of moth belonging to the family Noctuidae. It is distributed throughout Europe.The wingspan is 24-28 mm. This species is extremely similar to the Marbled Minor and the Tawny Marbled Minor and specific identification usually requires close study of the genitalia. O...

 (Oligia versicolor) and specific identification usually requires close study of the genitalia. With a wingspan

Wingspan

The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...

 of 24-27 mm, O. latruncula is usually the smallest of the three, although they all overlap in size. Well marked specimens often have noticeably dark forewings, with blackish basal area and coppery brown, rather than whitish, subterminal band. However, melanism

Melanism

Melanism is an undue development of dark-colored pigment in the skin or its appendages, and the opposite of albinism. It is also the medical term for black jaundice.The word is deduced from the , meaning black pigment....

 is very common in this species and all-dark specimens constitute 100% of the population in some areas. O. latruncula flies at night from May to August and is attracted to light and sugar.

The larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

 feeds internally on the stems of various grass

Grass

Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...

es including Calamagrostis

Calamagrostis

Calamagrostis, or Small-reed or Reedgrass, is a genus in the Grass family Poaceae with about 260 species that occur mainly in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere and the southern hemisphere. Towards equatorial latitudes, species of Calamagrostis generally occur at higher elevations in...

and Dactylis

Dactylis

Dactylis is a genus of grasses in the subfamily Pooideae, native to Europe, Asia, and northern Africa. They are known in English as cock's-foot or cocksfoot grasses, also sometimes as orchard grasses.-Taxonomy:...

, pupa

Pupa

A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. The pupal stage is found only in holometabolous insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, going through four life stages; embryo, larva, pupa and imago...

ting in a cocoon among the roots. This species overwinters as a larva.

1. The flight season refers to the British Isles
   British Isles
   The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
   
   . This may vary in other parts of the range.