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Species Hemithea aestivaria - Common Emerald - Hodges#7083

Moth ID - Hemithea aestivaria Greenie - Hemithea aestivaria Emerald - Hemithea aestivaria another puzzler - Hemithea aestivaria Hemithea aestivaria Hemithea aestivaria Hemithea aestivaria 910666  Hemithea aestivaria  7083 - 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)
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.