''Cyclophora albipunctata'', the birch mocha, 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 ...

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 ''metr ...

. The species was first described by

Johann Siegfried Hufnagel Johann Siegfried Hufnagel (17 October 1724, Falkenwalde, Prenzlau district, Brandenburg – 23 February 1795, Langenfeld, Sternberg district) was a German parson and entomologist (lepidopterist). Life Until the late 20th century nothing was known ...

in 1767. It is found in the

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-Si ...

. The southern boundary runs westward along the French Atlantic coast and to 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 (O ...

and north of the Alps. In the east, the species ranges to the Pacific Ocean (

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 admin ...

). South of the northern Alps line, it is found at some high elevation areas and mountains. In the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

, the

Massif Central The (; oc, Massís Central, ; literally ''"Central Massif"'') is a highland region in south-central France, consisting of mountains and plateaus. It covers about 15% of mainland France. Subject to volcanism that has subsided in the last 10,00 ...

, the southern Alps, the northern

Dinaric Alps The Dinaric Alps (), also Dinarides, are a mountain range in Southern and Southcentral Europe, separating the continental Balkan Peninsula from the Adriatic Sea. They stretch from Italy in the northwest through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and He ...

, in the western and northern

Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The ...

, in northern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

. In the north, the range extends up to the Arctic Circle. In the Far East the

nominate subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics ( morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all spec ...

is replaced by ''Cyclophora albipunctata griseolata'' Staudinger, 1897. 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 ...

is 20–25 mm. The apex of the forewing is slightly pointed. The ground colour is usually white, or whitish grey to light brown. Some specimens are over dusted with reddish. The pattern is very variable. Interior and exterior crosslines are almost always in a series of points or may be almost extinguished. Slight points are usually found on the costa: the costa can be over dusted dark in the basal half. A median band can be quite clearly present but also virtually absent. Margin stains are almost always developed, significant and mostly flowing into each other, slightly darker in the margin field. The discal spots are developed as a dark, white centred rings. These can be also slightly elliptical, or be reduced to simple, slightly reddish stains. The discal spots of the forewings are often bordered with brown red, but if present, the discal spots of the hindwings are, however, mostly black. The larvae feed on ''

Betula 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'' contain ...

'' species, including '' B. verrucosa'', '' B. pubescens'', '' B. nana'' and '' B. pendula''.

Subspecies

*''Cyclophora albipunctata albipunctata'' (Europe, Turkey, Transcaucasia, western Siberia to Mongolia) *''Cyclophora albipunctata griseolata'' (Staudinger, 1897) (south-eastern Siberia, Amur, Korea, Japan)

References

External links

*Kimber, Ia
"70.032 BF1677 Birch Mocha ''Cyclophora albipunctata'' (Hufnagel, 1767)"
''UKMoths''. Retrieved 26 May 2019.

''Catalogue of the Lepidoptera of Belgium''. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
"08016 ''Cyclophora albipunctata'' (Hufnagel, 1767) - Birken-Gürtelpuppenspanner"
''Lepiforum e.V.'' Retrieved 26 May 2019.
"Berkenoogspanner ''Cyclophora albipunctata''"
''De Vlinderstichting''. Retrieved 26 May 2019. Moths described in 1767 Cyclophora (moth) Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Taxa named by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel {{Sterrhinae-stub