Selenia lunularia

Selenia lunularia, the lunar thorn, is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is found in Europe except Iberia and Greece; also in Asia Minor, Armenia, Siberia [1]Issyk-Kul.

Lunar thorn
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Subphylum:
Hexapoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Geometridae
Tribe:
Ennomini
Genus:
Selenia
Species:
S. lunularia
Binomial name
Selenia lunularia
(Hübner, 1788)

The wingspan is 38–44 mm. The length of the forewings is 16–22 mm. Similar to Selenia dentaria but "Antemedian lines of forewing strongly curved, postmedian almost straight, oblique outwards, median area very much wider posteriorly than anteriorly, wholly or in part dark-shaded.- ab. sublunaria Steph. is much darker and more purple, almost exactly the colour of some tetralunaria - delunaria Hhn. the 2nd generation, is on an average rather smaller and with less irroration, but differs less from the 1st brood than in the other [related] species.[2]

The moth flies in two generation from mid-May to mid-August .

The caterpillars feed on various deciduous trees, such as birch and oak.

Notes
  1. ^ The flight season refers to Belgium and The Netherlands. This may vary in other parts of the range.

References
  1. Colour Atlas of Siberian Lepidoptera
  2. Prout, L.B. 1912–16. Geometridae. In A. Seitz (ed.) The Macrolepidoptera of the World. The Palaearctic Geometridae, 4. 479 pp. Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart.


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