Acronicta menyanthidis, the light knot grass, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is distributed through northern, central and eastern Europe, east to Siberia and the Russian Far East. Larva The wingspan is 33–41 mm. Forewing bluish white, dusted and shaded with dark grey; a short black streak from near base; marginal area darker, sometimes blackish, grey; orbicular stigma quite small.- In the ab. suffusa Tutt the whole forewing is suffused with dark grey. - ab. obsoleta Tutt has the forewing quite pale with all markings faint; on the contrary ab. scotica Tuff from the west coast of Scotland is larger and brighter than the type, with all markings clear and distinct.Seitz, A. Ed., 1914 Die Großschmetterlinge der Erde, Verlag Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart Band 3: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen eulenartigen Nachtfalter, 1914 The adults fly at night from May to July . They are attracted to light. Habitat in Germany The caterpillar is blackish brown with a red spiracular line with white dots. It feeds on moorland plants like bog myrtle and bilberry. Recorded food plants include Myrica, Calluna, Vaccinium, Salix, Betula, Ranunculus aconitifolius, Comarum palustre, Lysimachia nummularia and Menyanthes trifoliata. The flight season refers to the British Isles. This may vary in other parts of the range.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Acronicta menyanthidis has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens29
BINs1
Marker genes1
eDNA detections32
Countries8
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P658 bp consensus29 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 94% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Where individuals differ — all 40 variable positions, in barcode order
Each circle is a barcode variant; bigger = more specimens, colour = region. Lines join the most similar variants and the tick marks count the mutations between them — a tight cluster is one “dialect”, a long line a more divergent lineage. Click a circle to list its actual specimens.
Diversity (π)0.95%
Haplotypes5
BIN1
Most divergent pair6.2%
EuropeN.America
Closest relatives by DNA barcode
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-5P
animal barcode
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type9 731 records
Wild obs. + sensor8 332
Museum / vouchered1 382
Other17
Origin
Native81
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO13 404 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy30% within 1 km
≤100 m 1 368≤1 km 1 081≤10 km 5 602>10 km 64
8 115 georeferenced · 217 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor8 332
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy48% within 1 km
≤100 m 309≤1 km 290≤10 km 567>10 km 74
1 240 georeferenced · 142 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence1 382
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions15 of 43 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Helsinki, FI
349
DanishLepidopterologicalSocietylocation not on record
325
Tartu, EE
76
NHMOlocation not on record
67
SLU Artdatabankenlocation not on record
38
Kuopio, FI
32
CBDClocation not on record
31
Zürich, CH
27
Muzeum Górnośląskie w Bytomiulocation not on record
25
ZMAAlocation not on record
21
Philadelphia, US
21
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznańlocation not on record
17
Natural History Museum Rotterdamlocation not on record
13
Tromsø, NO
10
MZLUlocation not on record
9
Museum Ludovicae Ulricae, Zoology Institute of the University of Uppsalalocation not on record
9
Metsähallituslocation not on record
8
NCMGlocation not on record
8
Bern, CH
6
Rovaniemi, FI
6
Nijmegen, NL
6
Musee d'Histoire Naturallelocation not on record
5
Provincia di Livornolocation not on record
4
Uniwersytet Łódzkilocation not on record
4
Tallinn, EE
4
Glarus, CH
4
Archäologie und Museum Baselland - Museum.BLlocation not on record
4
DABUHlocation not on record
3
Edmonton, CA
3
Sion, CH
2
Naturmuseum St. Gallenlocation not on record
2
ZSMlocation not on record
2
BioFokuslocation not on record
2
NMBU:MINAlocation not on record
2
Universität Zürich, Naturhistorisches Museumlocation not on record
2
Stockholm, SE
2
DOI/FWS, Kenai National Wildlife Refugelocation not on record
1
John May Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record
1
Salzburg, AT
1
ЗММУlocation not on record
1
Canadian National Collection of Insects, Arachnids and Nematodeslocation not on record
1
NTNU-VMlocation not on record
1
University of Alaska Museumlocation not on record
1
43 institutions · 1 156 of 1 382 vouchered records shown · 226 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA32 detections
Where the DNA of Acronicta menyanthidis was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found32
Studies independent surveys2
Countries8
Verifiable raw sequence linked2
Signal confidence: moderateweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 32 detections have coordinates
Open the map8 countries0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median14.8 °C 8.30–16.8
Seasonal swing summer↔winter19.4 °C
Max temp (day)18.6 °C 12.8–21.0
Min temp (night)9.80 °C 2.40–12.7
Precipitation95.1 mm/mo 60.0–126
Air humidity60.1 % 56.5–62.5
Moisture balance-6.00 mm/mo -49.8–26.1
Vapour deficit664 Pa 422–842
Wind speed2.60 m/s 1.80–3.90
Cloud cover37.2 % 32.6–56.2
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 30 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.