Large emerald

Last updated

Large emerald
Geometra papilionaria1.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Geometridae
Genus: Geometra
Species:
G. papilionaria
Binomial name
Geometra papilionaria

The large emerald (Geometra papilionaria) is a moth which is the type species for the family Geometridae. It is found throughout the Palearctic region and the Near East in and around deciduous forests, heathlands, marshland and in settlements close to woodland. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.

Contents

Museum specimen, collections SLU, Uppsala Geometra papilionaria SLU.JPG
Museum specimen, collections SLU, Uppsala

Description

This is a large and attractive moth, which, as the specific name suggests, is very butterfly like. It has a wingspan of 50–65 mm. Newly emerged adults are distinctive pale green with slightly darker green and, especially, white fascia, though the green colouration fades after a few days. The characteristic white fascia take the form of three jagged, broken lines of white spots on the forewings, of which two semicircular rows continue over the hindwings.

Technical description and egg, larva and pupa

Bright green, the forewing usually with two lunulate-dentate white lnes,the hindwing with one, the lunules in the submedian area of forewing the thickest ; both wings usually in addition with a faintly darker green cell-mark and some indistinct white intraneural spots distally to the postmedian line. Under surface similarly but more weakly marked, with no antemedian line.- ab. herbacearia Men. is a form in which both the lines are obsolete. It was originally described, from Amurland, and as a separate species - ab. cuneata Burr, is characterized by a large wedge-shaped white spot adjoining the discal mark proximally in addition to the usual markings.-ab. subcaerulescens Burr, is of a bluer green ground-colour than the normal, but is probably scarcely worth naming.- ab. deleta Burr, is another unimportant aberration, in which the distal series of white spots is entirely obsolete - in ab. subobsoleta Burr. the antemedian line of the fore-wing is likewise obsolete. — ab. alba Gillm. is entirely white, above and beneath., slightly tinged with yellowish. The egg of is approximately oval, broader at one end and here flattened; it is strong and heavy looking, the surface sculptured, with strongly marked cells, the micropyle shown by a shallow, circular rayed pit. The larva feeds on birch and alder, and has been closely studied for its beautiful protective adaptations. It is rather stout, rugose, the surface shagreened, the head slightly notched, the setae mostly with enlarged summits. The larva hibernates small, and is at this time brown in colour, protectively assimilated to the tiny twigs. In the spring many become green, and they are wonderfully like the birch catkins among which they feed, various small protuberances and projecting edges of segments enhancing the resemblance. The pupa is cylindrical, tapering regularly from the fourth abdominal segment to the anal extremity; spiracles and tubercles distinct, the latter dark-coloured, bearing short curved setae; anal armature consisting of 8 hooks; the generalolour is pale green, the wing-cases tinged with brown. [1]

Similar species

Hemistola chrysoprasaria , Thetidia smaragdaria , Campaea margaritata , Comibaena bajularia , Hemithea aestivaria and Hylaea fasciaria All lack the white, interrupted, jagged spot line on the wings.

Figs4,4a,4b,4c,4d Larvae in various stages of growth Buckler W The larvae of the British butterflies and moths PlateCXIV.jpg
Figs4,4a,4b,4c,4d Larvae in various stages of growth

Biology

It flies at night from June to August [2] and is attracted to light. The hibernating larva is a reddish brown colour matching dead leaves. It turns green after hibernation to match spring leaves. It feeds mainly on birch though it has also been recorded on alder, beech, hazel and rowan. The chrysalis, enclosed in a flimsy silken web among the dead leaves, usually on the ground, is of a delicate green colour, dotted with buff on the back, and shaded with buff on the wing cases.

Subspecies

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silver-ground carpet</span> Species of moth

The silver-ground carpet is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is common throughout the Palearctic region including the Near East and North Africa.It is found in a variety of different habitats and occurs, for example, in humid forests, moorland and shore areas, on embankments or on unimproved grass meadows and heathlands as well as in gardens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">May highflyer</span> Species of moth

The May highflyer is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is found across the Palearctic region and the Near East although its range is largely determined by the presence of its larval food plant. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey pug</span> Species of moth

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clouded border</span> Species of moth

The clouded border is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is distributed across most of Europe to the Urals, western and central Siberia, Transbaikalia, Kazakhstan, Tian-Shan, northern Mongolia and parts of the Near East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scalloped oak</span> Species of moth

The scalloped oak is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mottled umber</span> Species of moth

The mottled umber is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is common throughout much of the Palearctic region. The species was first described by Carl Alexander Clerck in 1759.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common white wave</span> Species of moth

The common white wave is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is found throughout the Palearctic region .The habitat is deciduous forests and their surroundings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common wave</span> Species of moth

The common wave is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in his 1763 Entomologia Carniolica. It is found throughout the Palearctic region and the Near East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brimstone moth</span> Species of moth

The brimstone moth is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It should not be confused with the brimstone butterfly Gonepteryx rhamni.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Map (butterfly)</span> Butterfly of the family Nymphalidae

The map is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae.

<i>Xanthorhoe spadicearia</i> Species of moth

Xanthorhoe spadicearia, the red twin-spot carpet, is a moth of the genus Xanthorhoe in the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775.

<i>Perizoma alchemillata</i> Species of moth

Perizoma alchemillata, the small rivulet, is a moth of the genus Perizoma in the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.

<i>Epione repandaria</i> Species of moth

Epione repandaria, the bordered beauty, is a moth of the family Geometridae.

<i>Hemistola chrysoprasaria</i> Species of moth

Hemistola chrysoprasaria, the small emerald, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species can be found in all Europe including the Iberian Peninsula and Russia East to the Ural Mountains, North Africa, Asia Minor, Transcaucasia and the mountains of Eastern Asia, and China Tian Shan

<i>Hylaea fasciaria</i> Species of moth

Hylaea fasciaria, the barred red, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species can be found in Central and North Europe, Urals, Caucasus, Altai and East Siberia.

<i>Plemyria rubiginata</i> Species of moth

Plemyria rubiginata, the blue-bordered carpet, is a moth of the family Geometridae found in Europe and across the Palearctic. The moth was first described by the Austrian lepidopterists Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775.

<i>Selenia dentaria</i> Species of moth

Selenia dentaria, the early thorn, is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is found in Northern Europe, and across the Palearctic to the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, North Siberia, Russian Far East, Amur and Mongolia.

<i>Thera obeliscata</i> Species of moth

Thera obeliscata, the grey pine carpet, is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is found throughout north and central Europe and east across the Palearctic to Siberia, and south to the Caucasus and Transcaucasia. In the Alps it can be found at an altitude of over 1500 metres.

<i>Paradarisa consonaria</i> Species of moth

Paradarisa consonaria, the brindled square spot or square spot, is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is found in north and central Europe and east to south-eastern Siberia and Japan.

<i>Venusia cambrica</i> Species of moth

Venusia cambrica, the Welsh wave, is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is found in Europe, western and central Siberia, Altai, Transbaikalia, the Russian Far East, the Korean Peninsula, Japan and in North America, where it can be found across Canada from Newfoundland and Labrador to British Columbia, south in the west to California, south in the east to Georgia.

References

  1. Prout, L. B. (1912–16). Geometridae. In A. Seitz (ed.) The Macrolepidoptera of the World. The Palaearctic Geometridae, 4. 479 pp. Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart.pdf PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  2. The flight season refers to the British Isles. This may vary in other parts of the range.