Agrotis exclamationis
(Linnaeus, 1758) · speciesAt a glance
Sources9 archives
Databases and archives Agrotis exclamationis's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation9 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility747 569 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI170 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics105 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The heart and dart (Agrotis exclamationis) is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. A familiar moth to many, it is considered one of the most common of the European region. It occurs throughout the Palearctic realm from Ireland to Japan. Mounted Male Female This is a quite variable species with forewings ranging from pale to dark brown but always recognizable by the distinctively shaped dark stigmata which give it its common name. The wingspan is 35–44 mm. The hindwings are whitish (compared with other common Agrotis species, the hindwings of this species are usually paler than in heart and club but darker than in turnip moth). This species usually has a dark area at the front of the thorax, visible as a horizontal bar when viewing the moth head on. The differences are not consistent however; they are highly variable in both colour and markings, and identification of atypical or worn examples may prove impossible without examination of genitalia. See Townsend et al.Martin C. Townsend, Jon Clifton and Brian Goodey (2010). British and Irish Moths: An Illustrated Guide to Selected Difficult Species. (covering the use of genitalia characters and other features) Butterfly Conservation. This moth flies at night from May to July and is attracted to light, sometimes in large numbers. It also frequently visits nectar-rich flowers such as Buddleia, ragwort and red valerian. Larva The larva The caterpillars are coloured grey-brown, paler ventrally and have a pale dorsal line and clearly recognizable black point warts. The pupa is bright red. On the cremaster sit two short curved thorns.Larvae feed on a variety of plants, both wild and cultivated (see list below). This is one of the notorious cutworms and often severs or fatally damages plants at the base. The species overwinters as a full-grown larva in a chamber in the soil before pupating in the spring. 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.
Diet & foraging2
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 Agrotis exclamationis has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ 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.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
The complete instruction manual Agrotis exclamationis carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
Record type747 569 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
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.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions26 of 73 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| DanishLepidopterologicalSocietylocation not on record | 5 230 |
| Provincia di Livornolocation not on record | 2 299 |
| Helsinki, FI | 947 |
| Zürich, CH | 541 |
| Zoological Museum of the University of Chittagong, Bangladeshlocation not on record | 330 |
| Museum Ludovicae Ulricae, Zoology Institute of the University of Uppsalalocation not on record | 301 |
| Bern, CH | 295 |
| NTNU-VMlocation not on record | 250 |
| NHMOlocation not on record | 209 |
| Dhaka, BD | 191 |
| Geneva, CH | 175 |
| Muzeum Górnośląskie w Bytomiulocation not on record | 170 |
| UMUlocation not on record | 166 |
| Musee d'Histoire Naturallelocation not on record | 159 |
| Natural History Museum Rotterdamlocation not on record | 139 |
| Naturmuseum St. Gallenlocation not on record | 124 |
| Tartu, EE | 122 |
| ZMAAlocation not on record | 116 |
| Naturéum — Muséum cantonal des sciences naturelles, Lausanne, Département Zoologielocation not on record | 115 |
| SLU Artdatabankenlocation not on record | 114 |
| Salzburg, AT | 110 |
| Kuopio, FI | 98 |
| Fribourg, CH | 93 |
| NMOKlocation not on record | 83 |
| Museo civico di Storia naturale Giacomo Doria di Genova | Giacomo Doria Natural History Museum in Genoalocation not on record | 73 |
| SFRAlocation not on record | 71 |
| Museum zu Allerheiligen Schaffhausenlocation not on record | 69 |
| Winterthur, CH | 67 |
| Frauenfeld, CH | 65 |
| Archäologie und Museum Baselland - Museum.BLlocation not on record | 65 |
| Naturama Aargaulocation not on record | 61 |
| Sion, CH | 61 |
| Paro, BT | 54 |
| CBDClocation not on record | 47 |
| Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznańlocation not on record | 45 |
| Tallinn, EE | 45 |
| Philadelphia, US | 45 |
| Stockholm, SE | 38 |
| Glarus, CH | 35 |
| MZLUlocation not on record | 29 |
| Brussels, BE | 25 |
| European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy (EDIT)location not on record | 25 |
| NCMGlocation not on record | 25 |
| Naturmuseum Oltenlocation not on record | 25 |
| Universität Zürich, Naturhistorisches Museumlocation not on record | 23 |
| Nijmegen, NL | 22 |
| Tromsø, NO | 22 |
| Podgorica, ME | 21 |
| Durban Natural Science Museumlocation not on record | 14 |
| John May Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 11 |
| BioFokuslocation not on record | 11 |
| ZSMlocation not on record | 10 |
| SNSB-Zoologische Staatssammlung Münchenlocation not on record | 9 |
| Musée de Saint-Imierlocation not on record | 7 |
| DABUHlocation not on record | 5 |
| KSSlocation not on record | 5 |
| Metsähallituslocation not on record | 5 |
| EGBlocation not on record | 4 |
| Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeumlocation not on record | 4 |
| Philosophical Societylocation not on record | 4 |
| South Kensington, GB | 4 |
| Banyoles, ES | 3 |
| Radicondoli, IT | 3 |
| NMBU:MINAlocation not on record | 2 |
| Auckland, NZ | 2 |
| Rovaniemi, FI | 2 |
| UGRlocation not on record | 2 |
| Uniwersytet Łódzkilocation not on record | 1 |
| Bavarian State Collection of Zoologylocation not on record | 1 |
| Laboratorium voor Microbiologie der Landbouwhogeschoollocation not on record | 1 |
| Landesmuseum Kärntenlocation not on record | 1 |
| RERElocation not on record | 1 |
| Naturalis Biodiversity Centerlocation not on record | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Agrotis exclamationis 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
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
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.