Eupithecia venosata, the netted pug, is a moth of the family Geometridae, first described by the Danish zoologist Johan Christian Fabricius in 1787. It is found across the Palearctic realm from Portugal and Morocco in the west to the Lake Baikal in Siberia and Afghanistan and Pakistan in the east.[2]
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Geometridae |
| Genus: | Eupithecia |
| Species: | E. venosata
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| Eupithecia venosata | |
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List
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Description
editThe length of the forewings is 10–14 mm. The ground colour of the forewings and hindwings is brown to creamy white The forewings are large and round. Several light, black-edged, lines and the partly black coloured veins form a characteristic lattice. The hindwings have a similar, but greatly weakened pattern. Very strongly resembles Eupithecia schiefereri and is distinguishable from this clearly only by means of a genital examination.[3]
Forma
editfumosae Gregson (= nubilata Bohatsch, grisea Dietze) is a dark smoke-coloured race from the Shetland Islands. — In ab. bandanae Gregson the white bands remain conspicuous on the smoky ground. Among fumosae. — ochracae Gregson (= orcadensis Prout) also has the ground-colour darkened, but ochreous or clay-yellowish, not smoky; markings normal or sometimes weakened as in fumosae Orkney Islands.[4] See subspecies. The larva is pale pinkish grey, darker on the back, with scattered, upstanding brushes. The pupa is shiny brown-yellow with a dark brown cremaster, which has at the base five beaded elevations and a stretched tip with several bristles.
Biology
editThe moth flies from April to June depending on the location.
The larvae feed spun up on campion (Silene species), preferably bladder campion (Silene vulgaris), red campion (Silene dioica) and sea campion (Silene maritima).The pupa hibernates sometimes for two winters
Subspecies
edit- Eupithecia venosata venosata
- Eupithecia venosata fumosae Gregson, 1887
- Eupithecia venosata hebridensis Curtis, 1944
- Eupithecia venosata ochracae Gregson, 1886
- Eupithecia venosata plumbea Huggins, 1962
References
edit- ^ Yu, Dicky Sick Ki. "Eupithecia venosata (Fabricius 1787)". Home of Ichneumonoidea. Taxapad. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016.
- ^ Mironov, V. G. & Ratzel, U. (2012). "Eupithecia Curtis, 1825 of Afghanistan (Geometridae: Larentiinae)". Nota Lepidopterologica. 35 (2): 197–231. Archived from the original 11 August 2014.
- ^ Watson, L. & Dallwitz, M. J. (2003 onwards). "Eupithecia venosata (Fabricius)" Archived 15 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Insects of Britain and Ireland: The Pug Moths (Lepidoptera-Geometridae). Retrieved 3 May 2019.
- ^ Prout, L. B. (1912–16). Geometridae. In A. Seitz (ed.) The Macrolepidoptera of the World. The Palaearctic Geometridae, 4. 479 pp. Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart.pdf
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
