title: Orthosia cruda
text: # Orthosia cruda
  
  Orthosia cruda, the small Quaker, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in Europe, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Turkey, the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, Kazakhstan, Israel, Lebanon, Cyprus and Jordan.
  
  ## Technical description and variation
  
  The wingspan is 28–32 mm. Forewing grey brown, dusted with dark grey and reddish atoms: inner and outer lines marked by black spots on veins; submarginal line pale, indistinct; upper stigmata dark grey edged with pale and then with rufous; hindwing dull grey. Like Orthosia stabilis, which it resembles in colouration, it varies according to the amount of red shown; — thus pallida Tutt is a very pale grey form without red, but sometimes slightly ochreous-tinged; — pusillus Haw.is a darker grey form without red admixture; — nanus Haw. is like the typical form, reddish grey, but paler; — rufa Tutt is a rarer, reddish form; — lastly, ambigua Hbn. represents a dark red-brown or grey-brown insect with the lines and markings well shown.
  
  ## Biology
  
  The moth flies in one generation from the end of February to mid-May.
  
  Larva yellowish green, sometimes brown; dorsal and subdorsal lines fine, yellowish white;spiracular line broader and yellower; anal segment with a yellow cross bar; spiracles white with black rings. The larvae feed on various deciduous trees, such as oak and willow. It lives between leaves spun together.
  
  