''Cosmorhoe'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

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 ...

genus in the family Geometridae erected by

Jacob Hübner Jacob Hübner (20 June 1761 – 13 September 1826, in Augsburg) was a German entomologist. He was the author of ''Sammlung Europäischer Schmetterlinge'' (1796–1805), a founding work of entomology. Scientific career Hübner was the author of '' ...

in 1825. Its only species, ''Cosmorhoe ocellata'', the purple bar, was described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''.

Distribution

The species can be found in the

Palearctic realm 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 ...

, which includes western Europe and the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

, Central Europe,

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

, and

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...

Habitat

In the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

, it can be found at elevations up to 1500 meters. The species is found in many habitats, including heathland, deciduous and mixed forests, forest clearings, bushy places, grasslands, fens, scrub, gardens and park-like landscapes.

Description

Their

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 between 20 and 29 mm and the length of their forewings is between 13 and 15 mm. The ground colour of the forewings is creamy white to bright white. The base and midfield are coloured black to blue black. The latter is crossed by two bright lines. In the midfield band is a deep, jagged spot. In the bright areas between the basal area and the midfield as well as in the marginal field are grey or black spots of varying degrees. The hindwings are whitish and show a small black middle spot. Caterpillars are brownish, with bright angled markings on their backs and bright stripes on the sides. The pupa is usually shiny red brown.Kimmo Silvone
''Larvae of North-European Lepidoptera''
/ref>

Biology

This species shows two generations in the southern United Kingdom (from May to early July and from August to mid-October), but a single brood further north. The moths fly from May to August in the

, and from mid-April till October in other parts of the range.''Lepidoptera of Belgium''
/ref> They are active from dusk onwards. The larvae feed from June to September on various species of

bedstraw ''Galium'' is a large genus of annual and perennial herbaceous plants in the family Rubiaceae, occurring in the temperate zones of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Some species are informally known as bedstraw. There are over 600 spe ...

(mainly ''

Galium mollugo ''Galium mollugo'', common name hedge bedstraw or false baby's breath, is a herbaceous perennial plant of the family Rubiaceae. It shares the name hedge bedstraw with the related European species, Galium album. Description ''Galium mollugo'' can ...

'' and ''

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 ...

''). The larvae hibernates as a full-grown larva. They pupate in a cocoon.

References

*
Purple Bar ''Cosmorhoe ocellata''
''UKMoths''.

External links

* Paolo Mazzei, Daniel Morel, Raniero Panfil

* ttp://www.vlindernet.nl/vlindersoort.php?vlinderid=172 ''De Vlinderstichting'' {{Taxonbar , from1=Q2998335 , from2=Q1306112 Cidariini Moths described in 1758 Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Monotypic moth genera