Stilbia anomala
# Stilbia anomala

Stilbia anomala, the false footman or anomalous, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in parts of western Europe.

## Technical description and variation

The wingspan is 29–36 mm. Forewing grey, shining; the costa suffused with dark fuscous; inner and outer lines double, blackish, filled in with whitish, irregularly dentate; subterminal pale with suffusedly darker edges; orbicular and reniform stigmata with pale annuli externally dark margined, separated by a diffuse dark shade, the former oblique and narrow; hindwing white tinged with brown along termen; in the female the forewing is more uniformly blackish fuscous; — the form philopalis Grasl.[now species Stilbia philopalis (Graslin, 1852)], from S. E. France, is smaller, paler, with the markings showing up more prominently; - andalusica Stgr. [now species Stilbia andalusiaca Staudinger, [1892]], a Spanish form, is also smaller than the typical, but with less distinct lines and markings; — in syriaca Stgr., [now species Stilbia syriaca Staudinger, 1892] from Asia Minor, the wings are broader, the hindwing as well being much darker; calberlae Failla-Ted.[now species Stilbia calberlae (Failla-Tedaldi, 1890)] , from Sicily, is certainly a good aberration: the males are blacker in forewing than the darkest female of the typical form, with the hindwing brightly white.

## Biology

Adults are on wing from August to September.

Larva green to pale brown; dorsal and subdorsal lines yellowish white, with dark margins;spiracular whitish, with the upper edge grey. The larvae feed on various grasses, including Deschampsia flexuosa.

