''Epirrhoe galiata'', the galium carpet, is a
moth
Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...
of the family
Geometridae.
Subspecies
*''Epirrhoe galiata galiata''
*''Epirrhoe galiata orientata''
(Staudinger, 1901)
*''Epirrhoe galiata eophanata''
(Krulikowski, 1906)
Description
The
wingspan
The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...
of ''Epirrhoe galiata'' can reach about 28–32 mm. The forewing ground colour is pale grey, with a broad, darker bluish-grey central band. The forewings have also small dark grey or bluish-grey stains near the apex. The hindwings are pale whitish-grey and marked with fine crosslines.
[Lepidoptera of Belgium]
/ref> The larva is naked except for a few short bristles, brown with dark and light longitudinal stripes.
Biology
There are two generations per year with adults on wing from May to September.[
The ]larva
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
The ...
e feed on '' Galium'' species, including ''Galium verum
''Galium verum'' (lady's bedstraw or yellow bedstraw) is a herbaceous perennial plant of the family Rubiaceae. It is widespread across most of Europe, North Africa, and temperate Asia from Israel, Lebanon and Turkey to Japan and Kamchatka. It is ...
'' and ''Galium boreale
''Galium boreale'' or northern bedstraw is a perennial plant species of the Rubiaceae family. It is widespread over the temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America including most of Canada and the northern United States.
D ...
''. Larvae can be found from June/July to September/October. Larva overwinters as a pupa.[
]
Distribution
This species can be found from North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
and western Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
to the Russian Far East
The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admini ...
.Fauna Europaea
/ref>
Habitat
These moths prefer lime and chalk downland, sunny woodland fringes, dry meadows, grassy heathlands, glades, forest clearings, moorlands, sea-cliffs and xerophilous hillsides.
References
External links
Lepiforum.de
Epirrhoe
Moths of Europe
Moths of Asia
Taxa named by Michael Denis
Taxa named by Ignaz Schiffermüller
{{Xanthorhoini-stub