Willow beauty | |
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Adult male from Dresden (Germany) | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Lepidoptera |
Family: | Geometridae |
Genus: | Peribatodes |
Species: | P. rhomboidaria |
Binomial name | |
Peribatodes rhomboidaria (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775) | |
Synonyms | |
Numerous, see text |
The willow beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria) is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is a common species of Europe and adjacent regions (Near East and the Maghreb). While it is found widely throughout Scandinavian countries, which have a maritime climate, it is absent from parts of the former USSR which are at the same latitude but have a more continental climate. [1]
Up to four subspecies are listed by some authors, while others consider the willow beauty a monotypic species or accept only rhomboidaria and sublutearia as distinct: [2]
Under its junior synonym Geometra rhomboidaria, the willow beauty is the type species of its genus Peribatodes . This was initially proposed as a subgenus of Boarmia but eventually elevated to full genus rank. [3]
The adult's wingspan is 40–48 mm. The wings of this species are whitish-grey or -yellowish, though they have a buff or grey appearance from a distance, as they are heavily speckled with brown or black dots. Running over the fore- and hindwings in a semicircle are the two blackish bands commonly found in Ennominae, but they are broken and somewhat indistinct in this species. A tell-tale characteristic is a single bulge in the forewing part of the outer blackish bands. Melanic forms (e.g. rebeli) sometimes occur. The sexes can be distinguished by their antennae, which are strongly feathered in the male, but almost smooth in the female. [4] See similar species (below)
This moth inhabits woodland, gardens and similar habitat. Either one or two generations occur each year, depending on locality. The adults are on the wing during summer – e.g. June to September on the British Isles, while in the more continental climate of Austria they are rarely seen anymore in late August. They fly at night and are attracted to light. [4]
The caterpillar larva is reddish-brown and feeds on a variety of trees and shrubs, but – despite its name – rarely or never on willows (Salix). The species overwinters as a small larva. As evidenced by the species distribution, it does not seem to tolerate severe and dry winters very well. [5]
Willow beauty larvae are highly polyphagous and not adapted to a specific lineage of foodplants. Rather, they eat foliage of a wide range of eudicots, as well as some other plants. Recorded foodplants include: [6]
Junior synonyms of the willow beauty include: [7]
Peribatodes rhomboidaria is difficult to certainly distinguish from its congeners. See Townsend et al. [8]
The blotched emerald is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is found throughout Europe and the Near East. It has a scattered distribution in England and Wales, but is absent from Scotland and Ireland.
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.
The barred straw is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is sometimes placed in the genus Gandaritis. It is found throughout the Palearctic region, including Britain and Ireland, and also the Near East.
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 mottled beauty is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
The engrailed and small engrailed are moths of the family Geometridae found from the British Isles through central and eastern Europe to the Russian Far East and Kazakhstan. The western Mediterranean and Asia Minor and the Caucasus represent the southern limit of the distribution. In the north, the distribution area ends at the Arctic Circle. It also occurs in North America. Debate exists as to whether they make up one species, or whether E. crepuscularia actually refers only to the small engrailed, with the engrailed proper being separable as E. bistortata.
The true lover's knot is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is found in the west Palearctic in a wide band through northern, central and eastern Europe and Russia. In the south it is spread through northern Spain and northern Portugal, northern Italy, Macedonia, Bulgaria, and northern Greece. In Europe it is found wherever its food plants grow. It is traditionally thought of as a species typical of heathland and moorland but it can often be found in places where heather and its relatives are in garden cultivation. In the mountains it is found up to an elevation of over 2000 metres above sea level.
The common Quaker is a moth of the family Noctuidae first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775. Some authors prefer the synonym Orthosia stabilis(Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775). It is distributed throughout Europe and is also found in Turkey, Israel, Transcaucasia, Russia and eastern Siberia.
The dark dagger is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is distributed throughout Europe, Turkey, the Near East, the European part of Russia, southern Siberia, the Ural, the Russian Far East, the Korean Peninsula, China and Japan (Hokkaido).
Oligia latruncula, the tawny marbled minor, is a species of moth belonging to the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is distributed throughout Europe from northern Scotland and middle Fennoscandia in the north and then south to central Spain, Sicily and Greece. In the east, the species ranges to Western Asia. In the Alps it rises to an altitude of 2000 meters.
Lomographa bimaculata, the white-pinion spotted, is a species of geometer moth. It belongs to the large geometer moth subfamily Ennominae, and therein to the tribe Baptini. It is – under its junior synonym – the type species of its genus Lomographa. It is also the type species of Bapta, a junior objective synonym of Lomographa and the namesake of the Baptini. The species was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius ion 1775.
Peribatodes secundaria, the feathered beauty, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It can be found in Europe.
Sparganothis pilleriana, also known as the vine leafroller tortrix, is a moth of the family Tortricidae found in the Palearctic realm. It was first described by the Austrian lepidopterists Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775.
The March dagger moth is a moth of the subfamily Chimabachinae. It is found in Europe and was first described by Michael Denis & Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775.
Peribatodes ilicaria, the Lydd beauty, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Carl Geyer in 1833. It can be found in Europe and North Africa.
Anania fuscalis is a species of moth of the family Crambidae. It is found in Europe.
Peribatodes is a genus of moths in the family Geometridae. The genus was described by Wehrli in 1943.
Cerastis leucographa, the white-marked, is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is found in most of Europe, east to Russia, through the Palearctic up to Japan.
Gnophos obfuscata, the Scotch annulet or Scottish annulet, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is found in northern, central, and southeastern Europe, Scotland, Ireland, and the Iberian Peninsula.
Chesias rufata, the broom-tip, is a moth of the family Geometridae. It was described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1775. It has a wide range in central and western Europe, including Great Britain and Ireland. It is also found from Morocco to Asia Minor.The species prefers heaths, bushy slopes and rocky valleys which favour its foodplants.It is found up to 1,500m in the Alps.