The species is found in most of Europe, north to Scotland and Fennoscandia up to the Arctic Circle, south to Spain, Sicily (it is not found on Sardinia), Greece further east to the Middle East, Armenia, Asia Minor, western Turkestan and central Asia up to central Siberia.

Its hindwing is grey, with costal and terminal areas and the fringe generally ochreous or rufous.

The dull reddish examples with these bands well-developed are typical helvola; the bright red ones are rufina L.; — catenata Esp.

is a moth in which the space between the outer and submarginal lines is not filled up with darker colours, so that the dark lunules forming those lines are more conspicuous; the examples with a greenish grey or ochreous ground colour, with the bands also developed are ab.

from Central Asia, has pale yellow forewings; cinnamomea Fuchs has much grey suffusion, the area beyond outer line has darker brown; specimens from Amasia, though reddish in a few cases, mostly females, are generally much paler than European, dull brownish or ochreous-grey, with indistinct or obsolete markings; in particular the hindwings are much whiter with the grey and rufous suffusion usually slighter and more restricted in area.