''Falcaria lacertinaria'', the scalloped hook-tip, 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

Drepanidae The Drepanidae are a family of moths with about 660 species described worldwide. They are generally divided in three subfamilies) which share the same type of hearing organ. Thyatirinae, previously often placed in their own family, bear a super ...

. The species was first 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'' It is found in Europe and

Anatolia 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 ...

then east to Eastern

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

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 ...

is 27–35 mm. The forewings are ochreous,mixed and strigulated with dark fuscous. The veins are darker . The first and second lines are dark fuscous, nearly straight and parallel.There is a black discal dot and the wing apex is suffused with ochreous-brown. The termen is irregularly dentate. The cilia are blackish, spotted with white.The hind wings are whitish- ochreous, fuscous -sprinkled and posteriorly brownish -tinged with a faint grey postmedian line and a dark fuscous discal dot.The larva is ochreous-brown, darker marked. The dorsal line is anteriorly pale, dark-edged, posteriorly dark and interrupted. There are two blackish dorsal marks on segment 6, preceded by a pale area and pairs of tubercular prominences on 3, 4, and 12.Meyrick, E., 1895 ''A Handbook of British Lepidoptera'' MacMillan, Londo
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Keys and description The first generation may be more silvery-grey, the second generation smaller and lighter brown. (MHNT) Falcaria lacertinaria - Horní Planá, Czech Republic - male dorsal.jpg, ♂ (MHNT) Falcaria lacertinaria - Horní Planá, Czech Republic - male ventral.jpg, ♂ △ (MHNT) Falcaria lacertinaria - Lipnik, Czech Republic - female dorsal.jpg, ♀ (MHNT) Falcaria lacertinaria - Lipnik, Czech Republic - female ventral.jpg, ♀ △

Biology

The moth flies from April to August in two generations depending on the location. Falcaria lacertinaria 001.jpg, Caterpillar Falcaria lacertinaria.jpg, 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

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...

and alder.

References

External links

Fauna Europaea

Vlindernet.nl
Moths described in 1758 Drepaninae Drepanid moths of Great Britain Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Drepaninae-stub