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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) » Hemitheini » Hemithea » Common Emerald - Hodges#7083 (Hemithea aestivaria)

Species Hemithea aestivaria - Common Emerald - Hodges#7083

Representative Images

Common Emerald is it male or female. - Hemithea aestivaria Moth, Stanwood WA - Hemithea aestivaria Lovely green window moth - Hemithea aestivaria Lovely green window moth - Hemithea aestivaria Hemithea aestivaria Hemithea aestivaria 910666 Hemithea aestivaria - Hemithea aestivaria Hemithea aestivaria
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 Hemitheini
Genus Hemithea
Species aestivaria (Common Emerald - Hodges#7083)

Hodges Number

7083

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Hemithea aestivaria (Hübner, [1799]) (1), (2)
Phalaena Geometra strigata O. F. Müller, 1764
Nemoria alboundulata (Hedemann, 1879) (1)
Phylogenetic sequence # 208050

Numbers

The only named species of Hemithea in America north of Mexico. (3), (1)

Size

Forewing length:(1)
♂ 13-16 mm.
♀ 13-19 mm.
Larva to 27 mm.

Identification

This distinctive pale green species has a sharp angle in the hindwing. The fringes are brown and white checkered. Body green with reddish-brown at the tail end. (1)

Range

British Columbia and Washington. (1)
Moth Photographers Group - large map with some distribution data.

Season

Ferguson mentions only July specimens. (1)
Moth Photographers Group has May to August records. (3)

Food

Larvae feed on many shrubs and both coniferous and hardwood trees including Eastern White-cedar and Larch. (1)

Life Cycle

Overwinters as a larva. (1)

Remarks

Common in Europe. First North American report in 1979 (Doganlar & Beirne, 1979), centered in Vancouver, B.C. and expected to spread outwards from there.(1)

See Also

No other western species has sharply angled hindwing and brown and white checkered fringes. (1)
Compare to related species on the pinned plates of Moth Photographers Group.

Print References

Ferguson, D.C., 1985. The Moths of America North of Mexico, Fascicle 18.1. p. 121.(1)
Powell, J.A., & P.A. Opler 2009. Moths of Western North America. p. 221, pl. 31.24.(4)

Internet References

Moth Photographers Group
BOLD - Barcode of Life Data Systems

Works Cited

1.The Moths of America North of Mexico Fascicle 18.1. Geometroidea, Geometridae (Part), Geometrinae
Douglas C. Ferguson . 1985. The Wedge Entomological Research Foundation.
2. A revision of the moths of the subfamily Geometrinae of America north of Mexico (Insecta, Lepidoptera)
Douglas C. Ferguson. 1969. Peabody Museum of Natural History Yale University Bulletin 29.
3.North American Moth Photographers Group
4.Moths of Western North America
Powell and Opler. 2009. UC Press.
Contributed by Hannah Nendick-Mason on 15 July, 2006 - 9:45pm
Additional contributions by Maury Heiman
Last updated 10 March, 2013 - 1:44pm

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