''Apeira syringaria'', the lilac beauty, is a
moth of the family
Geometridae. It is found throughout
Europe and east across the
Palearctic
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa.
The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...
to the
Russian Far East
and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
The
wingspan is 38–42 mm. The length of the forewings is 19–22 mm. The front wings are coloured violet-grey to bright reddish brown and yellowish in the marginal field. There are white marks along the costa. The interior cross line is pinkish white and broken under the costa (toward the basal field). The narrow central band is red-brown and continues on the hindwings. The outer cross line is dark on the front edge becoming pink white adjoining on the hind wings a dark row of dots. A pink-white spot is located off the apex of the wing. In rest, the front margins of the wings are curiously folded. This, in combination with the colour and pattern give a crumpled leaf-like appearance.
[Prout, L. B. (1912–16). Geometridae. In A. Seitz (ed.) ''The Macrolepidoptera of the World''. The Palaearctic Geometridae, 4. 479 pp. Alfred Kernen, Stuttgar]
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The caterpillars reach a length of up to 30 millimeters. . On the seventh segment there is an eye-catching pair of curved extensions; smaller dorsal humps are located on segments five and six. They are pale ochre-coloured with dark olive-brown or purple-brown markings . The head capsule is grey-brown. In a resting position, the caterpillars do not sit stretched out like most other looper caterpillars, but remain curved to resemble the dried fruit capsules of the lilac.
The moth flies from June to July .
The caterpillars feed on lilac
''Syringa'' is a genus of 12 currently recognized species of flowering plant, flowering woody plants in the olive family or Oleaceae called lilacs. These lilacs are native to woodland and scrub from southeastern Europe to eastern Asia, and wid ...
, honeysuckle and privet. This species overwinters as a larva.
Ecology: found in woodland, heaths and occasionally fens.
References
Notes
#''The flight season refers to the British Isles. This may vary in other parts of the range.''
External links
Lilac beauty on UKmothsFauna EuropaeaLepiforum.deVlindernet.nl
Ennomini
Moths of Europe
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Moths described in 1758
{{Ennominae-stub