''Chlorissa viridata'', the small grass emerald, 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 from western Europe to the eastern

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 ...

Technical description and variation

The base colour of the forewings is green, but soon fades to yellow. Face red-brown, fillet white, crown light green. Antennae in male filiform. Forewings light green ; costal edge whitish - ochreous ; first line faint, curved ; second nearly straight, whitish ; cilia white, basal half pale greenish. Hindwings as forewings, but first line absent; termen very obtusely angulated. Larva pale green, with purplish dorsal sometimes connected marks ; subdorsal line whitish ; lateral ridge pale yellow ; head purplish. Meyrick, E. (1895)
''A Handbook of British Lepidoptera''
MacMillan, London. The wingspan is 24–27 mm.

Biology

The larvae feed on ''

Calluna vulgaris ''Calluna vulgaris'', common heather, ling, or simply heather, is the sole species in the genus ''Calluna'' in the flowering plant family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing evergreen shrub growing to tall, or rarely to and taller, and is found wid ...

'', '' Betula'' and '' Salix'' species (including ''

Salix repens ''Salix repens'', the creeping willow, is a small, shrubby species of willow in the family Salicaceae, growing up to 1.5metres in height. Found amongst sand dunes and heathlands, it is a polymorphic species, with a wide range of variants. In ...

''). Other recorded food plants include '' Empetrum nigrum'', '' Myrica gale'', '' Vaccinium uliginosum'', '' Quercus'', ''

Potentilla ''Potentilla'' is a genus containing over 300Guillén, A., et al. (2005)Reproductive biology of the Iberian species of ''Potentilla'' L. (Rosaceae).''Anales del Jardín Botánico de Madrid'' 1(62) 9–21. species of annual, biennial and perenni ...

'', '' Galium'', '' Hieracium'', ''

Artemisia Artemisia may refer to: People * Artemisia I of Caria (fl. 480 BC), queen of Halicarnassus under the First Persian Empire, naval commander during the second Persian invasion of Greece * Artemisia II of Caria (died 350 BC), queen of Caria under th ...

'', '' Ononis'', '' Clematis'', '' Prunus'', ''

Crataegus ''Crataegus'' (), commonly called hawthorn, quickthorn, thornapple, Voss, E. G. 1985. ''Michigan Flora: A guide to the identification and occurrence of the native and naturalized seed-plants of the state. Part II: Dicots (Saururaceae–Cornacea ...

'', '' Corylus'', '' Rubus'', '' Erica'', '' Ulex'', '' Genista'', '' Lotus corniculatus'', ''

'' and ''

Ledum palustre ''Rhododendron tomentosum'' (syn. ''Ledum palustre''), commonly known as marsh Labrador tea, northern Labrador tea or wild rosemary, is a flowering plant in the subsection '' Ledum'' of the large genus ''Rhododendron'' in the family Ericaceae. D ...

''. Larvae can be found from July to August. The species overwinters as a pupa.

Etymology

The scientific name ''viridata'' refers to the green colour of the wings (''viridis'' means green).

Subspecies

*''Chlorissa viridata viridata'' (central and southern Europe) *''Chlorissa viridata melinaria'' (Herrich-Schäffer, 1856) (southern Urals) *''Chlorissa viridata insigniata'' (Staudinger, 1901) (mountains of central Asia)

References

External links

*
''Lepidoptera of Belgium''''Lepiforum e. V.''
Hemitheini Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Moths described in 1758 {{Geometrinae-stub