About Mythimna straminea Treitschke, 1825
Mythimna straminea Treitschke, 1825 has a wingspan ranging from 32 to 40 millimetres, which equals 1.3 to 1.6 inches. The forewing is pale ochreous, with faint dark dusting and a subtle reddish tinge. The veins are finely outlined by brown streaks, which are also clearly visible in the intervals between the veins. A diffuse brown patch occurs below the median vein. Outer dots are only present on veins 2 and 5. The hindwing is whitish ochreous, with a grey tint running along its center from the base, and a postmedian line of dark grey dashes along the veins. Tutt documented three distinct aberrations of this species, all apparently collected from Britain. The first is obsoleta Tutt, a very rare pale form that lacks all forewing dots, has a pure white median nervure, and a solid white hindwing with no dots. The second is rufolinea Tutt, which has bright rufous colouration that makes the forewing appear to be made up of alternating fine red and white lines. The third is nigrostriata Tutt, which has blackish colouration that makes the wing appear as a sequence of black and white lines; the shade below the median vein is nearly black, and the hindwing is much darker than typical. The majority of these darker nigrostriata forms are male. For additional information, see Hacker et al.
