Ctenucha brunnea

{{Short description|Species of moth}}

{{Speciesbox

| image = Ctenucha brunnea (Brown Ctenucha).jpg

| image_caption =

| taxon = Ctenucha brunnea

| authority = Stretch, 1872

| synonyms =

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Ctenucha brunnea, the brown ctenucha or brown-winged ctenucha, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Richard Harper Stretch in 1872.{{cite web |last=Savela |first=Markku |url=https://www.nic.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/noctuoidea/arctiidae/ctenuchinae/ctenucha/#brunnea |title=Ctenucha brunnea Stretch, 1872 |website=Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms |accessdate=August 20, 2019}} It is a diurnal moth found in the US from central to southern coastal California. North of that, it is replaced by Ctenucha multifaria.{{cite web |url=http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=8265 |title=930438.00 – 8265 – Ctenucha brunnea – Brown Ctenucha Moth – Stretch, 1872 |website=North American Moth Photographers Group |publisher=Mississippi State University |accessdate=August 20, 2019}}{{Cite book |last1=Will |first1=Kip |title=Field Guide to California Insects |last2=Gross |first2=Joyce |last3=Rubinoff |first3=Daniel |last4=Powell |first4=Jerry A. |publisher=University of California Press |year=2020 |isbn=9780520288744 |location=Oakland, California |pages=382–383}}

Adults' bodies are {{Convert|20-26|mm|in}} in length and blue, with red heads and shoulder markings. The length of the forewings is {{Convert|18–20|mm|in}}. Adults are on wing from mid May to mid July. They feed on the nectar of Heteromeles arbutifolia.{{cite journal |last=Essig |first=E.O. |year=1915 |title=The Brown Ctenucha |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=28xOAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA241 |journal=Journal of Entomology and Zoology |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=241–245 |authorlink=Edward Oliver Essig |accessdate=July 3, 2024}}

Eggs are round and fade from white to yellow, and laid in rows. The larvae are black with buff-colored or yellow hairs, with two black tufts on the front and rear and an amber or orange head. They feed on Leymus condensatus and other grasses and sedges.{{cite web |last=Heiman |first=Maury J. |date=June 17, 2018 |url=http://bugguide.net/node/view/284059 |title=Species Ctenucha brunnea - Brown Ctenucha - Hodges#8265 |website=BugGuide |accessdate=August 20, 2019}} The pupae are chestnut in color and wrapped loosely in a cocoon of the larval hairs.{{cite journal |title=Contributions from the Los Angeles Museum - Channel Islands Biological Survey -- 19. Ctenucha brunnea Stretch, on Santa Rosa Island |journal=Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences |year=1941 |last1=Comstock |first1=John A. |last2=Dammers |first2=Charles M. |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=11–12 |url=https://meridian.allenpress.com/scasbulletin/article/40/1/11/481250/CONTRIBUTIONS-FROM-THE-LOS-ANGELES-MUSEUM-CHANNEL|doi=10.3160/0038-3872-40.1.11 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 }}