Perizoma

Perizoma is a genus in the geometer moth family (Geometridae). It is the type genus of tribe Perizomini in subfamily Larentiinae. The tribe is considered monotypic by those who include the genera Gagitodes, Martania and Mesotype in Perizoma. Some other less closely related species formerly placed here are now elsewhere in the Larentiinae, e.g. in Entephria of the tribe Larentiini.

Perizoma
Grass rivulet (Perizoma albulata) imago
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Geometridae
Tribe:	Hydriomenini
Genus:	Perizoma Hübner, 1825
Type species
Geometra albulata Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775
Diversity
Over 150 species
Synonyms
Emmelesia Stephens, 1829a Emmelesia Stephens, 1829b (non Stephens, 1829a: preoccupied) Emmelesia Stephens, 1831 (non Stephens, 1829a: preoccupied) Opisogonia Herrich-Schäffer, 1856 (non Herrich-Schäffer, 1855: preoccupied) Zerynthia Curtis, 1830 (non Ochsenheimer, 1816: preoccupied) and see text

P. curvilinea in Oregon

Either way, there are more than 150 species of Perizoma currently known, with a generally Northern Hemisphere distribution (e.g. 14 occurring in Europe), and new ones still being described occasionally. Many of them are called rivulets ("the" rivulet is P. affinitata specifically), while others are known as carpets, a common name for Larentiinae in general.[1]

It was first described by Jacob Hübner in 1825. One of its junior synonyms is Emmelesia, proposed by James Francis Stephens no less than three times – once validly in 1829, and within the next two years twice more invalidly, covering a total of 18 species.[2] Another invalid name of Perizoma – Opisogonia, chosen by Gottlieb August Wilhelm Herrich-Schäffer in 1856 – had already been used by the same author the year before for a different geometer moth genus.[3]