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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Butterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera) » Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths (Geometroidea) » Geometrid Moths (Geometridae) » Emeralds (Geometrinae) » Nemoriini » Nemoria » Columbian Emerald - Hodges#7035 (Nemoria darwiniata)

Species Nemoria darwiniata - Columbian Emerald - Hodges#7035

Classification · Hodges Number · Other Common Names · Synonyms and other taxonomic changes · Size · Identification · Range · Habitat · Season · Food · Remarks · See Also · Internet References
Emerald Moth - Nemoria darwiniata Darwin's Emerald - Nemoria darwiniata Emerald - Nemoria darwiniata Columbian emerald - Nemoria darwiniata - female Geometer Moth? - Nemoria darwiniata - male Geometrinae - Nemoria darwiniata - female Moth - Nemoria darwiniata Nemoria darwiniata
Show images of: caterpillars · adults · both
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Lepidoptera (Butterflies and Moths)
Superfamily Geometroidea (Geometrid and Swallowtail Moths)
Family Geometridae (Geometrid Moths)
Subfamily Geometrinae (Emeralds)
Tribe Nemoriini
Genus Nemoria
Species darwiniata (Columbian Emerald - Hodges#7035)
Hodges Number
7035
Other Common Names
Darwin's Emerald
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Nemoria darwiniata (Dyar, 1904)
Phylogenetic Sequence # 910615
Size
wingspan 27-34 mm
Identification
Adult: forwing green with straight white PM line and fainter oblique AM line; veins faint, whitish; costa and fringe white; orange dot at apex; thorax green; abdomen light green or brown with white dorsal spots surrounded by reddish-brown ring
hindwing similar but PM line with slight bend in middle; tiny reddish or orange discal spot on all wings (a distinctive feature) Ferguson notes that the discal spots can vary from red to green.
Specimens identified by DNA analysis:


Larva: color extremely variable (white, yellow, pale brown, light green, silver, or dark brown); abdominal segments 2-5 with pointed lateral flanges; integument granulate, almost velvety
Range
British Columbia to California, east to New Mexico, north to Alberta
Habitat
mountain forests
Season
adults fly from June to August
larvae from March to September
Food
larvae feed on leaves and flowers of various trees and shrubs: oak (Quercus spp.), Myrica, Oceanspray (Holodiscus discolor), Black Hawthorn (Crataegus douglasii), manzanita (Arctostaphylos spp.), Antelope Bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata), Snowbrush (Ceanothus velutinus), Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra), Scouler's Willow (Salix scouleriana)
Remarks
Sub-species:
Nemoria darwiniata darwiniata - (western & southwestern range)
Nemoria darwiniata punctularia Barnes & McDunnough, 1918 - (central & southern CA only) This sub-species has bolder discal spots and more intense reddish area surrounding the much reduced abdominal spots. (Maury J. Heiman)
See Also
Nemoria glaucomarginaria has larger white spots on the abdomen, surrounded by a very similar reddish color and no discal spots on the wings.


The only other Emerald moth with reddish discal spots is Nemoria zelotes, which has a prominent red terminal line on all wings, and is apparently restricted to Arizona.
Internet References
Moth Photographers Group (MPG)
Barcode of Life (BOLD)
Contributed by Robin McLeod on 16 February, 2006 - 12:09am
Additional contributions by Robert H. Biagi, Steve Morris
Last updated 11 July, 2022 - 1:42pm

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