| Foxglove pug | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Geometridae |
| Genus: | Eupithecia |
| Species: | E. pulchellata |
| Binomial name | |
| Eupithecia pulchellata | |
| Synonyms | |
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The foxglove pug (Eupithecia pulchellata) is a moth of the family Geometridae found in Europe. It was described by the English entomologist James Francis Stephens in 1831.
The wingspan is 18–22 mm and the species is quite colourful for the genus, with alternating bands of dark brown and buffish orange on the forewings. In some races the buff bands can be very pale. There are dark crosslines. The ground colour of the forewings is yellow-red and shows a broad dark grey to dark brown, lightly edged central band, from which a black central spot hardly stands out. There are dark areas at the margin. The hind wings are slightly lighter than the forewings, have a darkened fringing edge and show a small black central spot.(The forewing is, from the inside outwards, coloured as follows: at the base dark grey, then a broad, ochre-yellow transverse band, then an even-broad, white-edged, dark grey transverse band, then whitish-yellow, then an irregular, brownish ochre-yellow transverse band (usually somewhat darker in colour than that further inside the wing), then a white zigzag transverse stripe and outermost grey.) [2] [3] [4]
It flies at night in May and June and is attracted to light.
The larva is quite variable but is normally yellowish-green with purplish markings. It usually feeds inside foxglove flowers (Digitalis species). After hatching the larva bores through the side of the flower, sealing the mouth with silk and feeding on the reproductive parts of the flower, i.e. the stamen and developing seeds. Larva can be found from June to August by searching for discoloured flowers. The pupa overwinters in the soil, lasting through the winter to May and June. [5] The corolla of the flower can persist on a plant long after uninfested flowers have fallen. Somewhat surprisingly, given this very specialized feeding ecology, it has also been recorded feeding on Brassica oleracea in Malta. [6] The species overwinters as a pupa. The preferred habitat is the edge of woods, glades and park landscapes, gardens and warm mountain slopes.
It has a scattered distribution across Europe, closely following the range of its food plant. Where present it can be very common. The nominate subspecies E. pulchellata pulchellata is found in the British Isles, in Central Europe the subspecies is E. pulchellata intermedia. In the Pyrenees, it occurs to a height of 2,400 metres.
The slender pug is a moth of the family Geometridae. It was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1813 and is found throughout Europe and western parts of the Palearctic. The larva feeds on the catkins of willow.
The mottled pug is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1813. It is found across the Palearctic region apart from around the Mediterranean Sea. It is common in the British Isles apart from Scotland where it is rather local.
The lime-speck pug is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is a common species throughout the Palearctic region, the Near East and North Africa.
The wormwood pug is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Carl Alexander Clerck in 1759. It is a common species across the Palearctic region as well as North America.
The currant pug is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Henry Doubleday in 1856. It is found across the Nearctic and Palearctic regions. Its occurrence extends eastwards from Ireland, across Europe to the Near East, the Urals, the Ussuri region and on to the island of Sakhalin. In the Pyrenees and the Alps it rises to altitudes of 1500 and 1800 metres respectively.
The common pug is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is a common species across the Palearctic region, including the Near East and North Africa. It ranges from the Atlantic coast of Ireland and Portugal across Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia to the Russian Far East (Priamurje) and Korea.
The grey pug is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is found throughout the Palearctic region. It is also found in North America. Since it does not place any special demands on climatic conditions, special caterpillar food plants, geological subsoil or the like it is a typical species of almost any Hochstaudenflur, where it occurs in the herb layer, in bushes and even on deciduous trees. It can be found on forest edges and hedgerows, on heath, in rocky places and wetlands, parks and gardens, as well as in villages and town centres.
The tawny speckled pug is a moth of the family Geometridae.
The bordered pug is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is found across the Palearctic region. In the Pyrenees, the species can be found up to an altitude of 1800 metres. It prefers steppe areas, open bushy terrain, fallow and unimproved grasslands and parkland.
The goldenrod pug is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Henry Doubleday in 1861. It is found throughout the Palearctic region. In the British Isles it is widespread but rather locally distributed.
The juniper pug or juniper looper is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is found throughout the Palearctic and in the Nearctic.
The common footman is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Johann Leopold Theodor Friedrich Zincken in 1817. It is distributed throughout Europe and east through the Palearctic to Lake Baikal.
The broad-barred white is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1766. It is distributed throughout Europe and is also found in Turkey, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Kirghizia, Tajikistan, western Siberia and China.
Eupithecia innotata, the angle-barred pug, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1767. It ranges from Spain in the west to western Siberia and Central Asia in the east.
Eupithecia indigata, the ochreous pug, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species can be found in Europe. and across the Palearctic as far as the Altai Mountains It primarily colonizes pine forests, mixed pine forests and pine plantations. In the Alps it rises to heights of 1800 metres.
Eupithecia plumbeolata, the lead-coloured pug, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species can be found all over Europe ranging to the Urals, then through Central Asia to Siberia and to Sayan mountains, the Altai and the Amur. In the Alps, the species occurs up 2000 metres above sea level and in the Pyrenees up to in 2400 metres.
Eupithecia dodoneata, the oak-tree pug, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species can be found in Europe into West Russia and including the Central Black Earth Region Other occurrences are found in Asia Minor, the Caucasus as well as in Morocco. In the Pyrenees and the Alps, it rises to altitudes of 1000 metres. The species prefers dry oak and oak mixed forests.
Eupithecia simpliciata, the plain pug, is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is found in the Palearctic realm, from western Europe to north-western China (Xinjiang). The species primarily colonizes wastelands, rubble and abandoned vineyards, and in Asia also salt steppes. In the Alps, the range of altitude extends up to 1200 metres.
Eupithecia pimpinellata, the pimpinel pug, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1813. It is known from most of Europe to Morocco, Siberia, Kyrgyzstan, Altai, Mongolia.It primarily colonizes bushy places, forest edges, clearings, hedges, mountain slopes, embankments, railway dams and parks as well as semi-dry grasslands. In the Alps it rises to heights of 1800 metres.
Eupithecia pygmaeata, the marsh pug, is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is known from most of Europe, western and southern Siberia, the Russian Far East, northern Mongolia and North America .The species primarily colonizes floodplain and disused forests, bogs, river banks and marshy meadows. E. pygmaeata reaches up to 1800 meters in South Tyrol.