Noctua orbona (Hufnagel, 1766)

Host plants:
The larvae feed primarily on grasses (Poaceae). I recorded them e.g. on Festuca ovina in a sandy grassland.

Habitat:
Noctua orbona inhabits generally more dry and nutrient-poor grassy sites such as sandy and other nutrient-poor grasslands, fallow land, inland dunes, open pine forests etc. In Germany, it is e.g. densely distributed on sandy soils, but quite rare in S-Germany (e.g. only very sporadically in calcareous grasslands of the Swabian Alb).
In Spain I recorded the larvae together with those of Agrochola lunosa in nutrient-poor, acidophilous pastures between 1200 and 1600m.

Life cycle:
The development is similar to that of Noctua interposita. I found the young to mature larvae of boths species in the same site in E-Germany (Brandenburg) in late March 2016. The larvae are active only during the night after hibernation. The moths fly between late May or June to September or October.

Remarks:
Noctua orbona occurs in N-Africa, in much of Europe (but often only quite local, misses in Central and N-Scandinavia) and in Asia.