The currant pug (''Eupithecia assimilata'') 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 The geometer moths are moths belonging to the family Geometridae of the insect order Lepidoptera, the moths and butterflies. Their scientific name derives from the Ancient Greek ''geo'' γεω (derivative form of or "the earth"), and ''met ...

. The species was first described by Henry Doubleday in 1856. It is found across the

Nearctic The Nearctic realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting the Earth's land surface. The Nearctic realm covers most of North America, including Greenland, Central Florida, and the highlands of Mexico. The parts of North America t ...

and

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 ...

regions .Its occurrence extends eastwards to the

Near East The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

, Urals, the Ussuri region and on to the island of Sakhalin. In the Pyrenees and the Alps it rises to altitudes of 1500 and 1800 metres respectively. This species is rather similar to the

wormwood pug The wormwood pug (''Eupithecia absinthiata'') is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Carl Alexander Clerck in 1759. It is a common species across the Palearctic region as well as North America. The wingspan is ...

, with warm brown forewings and a triangle of black spots close to the

costa Costa may refer to: Biology * Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy * Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus * Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral * Costa (entomology), the leading edge of th ...

, but can be recognized by its broader wings and a more prominent white spot close to the tornus. Prout states - easily distinguished from ''absinthiata'' by its somewhat broader forewing, deeper colour, larger discal mark, more strongly developed subterminal spots, especially the posterior one, darker hindwing, with white dot or spot near anal angle, and especially by the spotted fringes. — ''grisescens'' Dietze, from Central Russia and Central Asia, is smaller and much more mixed with grey.Prout, L. B. (1912–16). Geometridae. In A. Seitz (ed.) ''The Macrolepidoptera of the World''. The Palaearctic Geometridae, 4. 479 pp. Alfred Kernen, Stuttgar
pdf *
/ref> 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 ...

is 17–22 mm. The egg has a shiny white colour and a smooth surface. The larvae are greenish in spring, reddish or brownish in late summer and show very clear reddish-brown angular spots on the back. The colour corresponds to the leaf or fruit status of the food plant.The yellow-brown pupa has green wing sheaths and is equipped with two strong and six thin hook bristles on the cremaster. Two broods are produced each year with adults on the wing in May and June and again in August. 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 ...

, as the name suggests, feeds on currant, but will also feed on

hop A hop is a type of jump. Hop or hops may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Hop'' (film), a 2011 film * Hop! Channel, an Israeli TV channel * ''House of Payne'', or ''HOP'', an American sitcom * Lindy Hop, a swing dance of the 1920s and ...

. The species overwinters as a

pupa A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

Similar species

*''

Eupithecia absinthiata The wormwood pug (''Eupithecia absinthiata'') is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Carl Alexander Clerck in 1759. It is a common species across the Palearctic region as well as North America. The wingspan is ...

References

* Chinery, Michael. ''Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe'' (1986, reprinted 1991) * Skinner, Bernard. ''Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles'' (1984)

External links

Currant pug at ''UKMoths''''Fauna Europaea''''Lepiforum e.V.''
Eupithecia Moths described in 1856 Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Taxa named by Henry Doubleday {{Eupithecia-stub