| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Geometridae |
Adults. Antennae of males simple. Face rough.
The outer margin of the forewing slightly sigmoid-curved, or convexly curved. Forewings not predominantly green, yellow, or black; dark fuscous or umber, with darker striae; predominantly brown, or fuscous; with a clear discal mark (this blackish); with a distinct median band (the dark band sometimes narrowly divided across the middle). Hindwings plain; light grey; predominantly pale grey; with a clear discal mark (this darker); transversely lined (with one or two darker striae).
Vein 10 of the forewings arising independently of 9; arising independently, anastomosing with 11 and 9 to form a double areole. Hindwings exhibiting a tubular vein 5. Vein 5 of the hindwings arising from about the middle of the transverse vein, or arising from below the middle of the transverse vein (?). Vein 8 of the hindwings approximated to or anastomosed with the upper margin of the cell to the middle or beyond. Hindwing veins 6 and 7 stalked.
Posterior tibiae of males 4-spurred.
Early stages. Larvae feeding on Epilobium, Circaea.
British representation. 1 species; South-east England, Central-southern England, South-west England, English Midlands, Northern England, Southern Scotland, Northern Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Living adults found May and June. E. silaceata (Small Phoenix).
Subfamily. Larentiinae.
Illustrations. • Chloroclysta, Cidaria, Eulithis, Plemyria, Thera: Newman (1869). 1, Eulithis prunata (The Phoenix); 2, Eulithis mellinata (The Spinach); 3a-b, Eulithis testata (The Chevron); 4a-b, Eulithis populata (The Northern Spinach); 5, Eulithis pyraliata (The Barred Straw); 6a-f, Ecliptopera saliceata (The Small Phoenix); 7, Chloroclysta siterata (Red-green Carpet); 8, Chloroclysta siterata (Autumn Green Carpet); 9a-c, Chloroclysta truncata (Marbled Carpet); 10a-b, Chloroclysta citrata (Dark Marbled Carpet); 11, Cidaria fulvata (The Barred Yellow); 12, Thera cognata (Chestnut-coloured Carpet); 13, Thera juniperata (Juniper Carpet); 14, Thera firmata (Pine Carpet); 15, Thera obeliscata (Grey Pine Carpet); 16a, Plemyria rubiginata (Blue-bordered Carpet, typical form); 16b, Plemyria rubiginata (Blue-bordered Carpet, var). From Newman (1869).
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Geometridae. Version: 14th February 2021. delta-intkey.com’.
