Willow beauty
| Willow beauty | |
|---|---|
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| Adult male from Dresden (Germany) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Division: | Ditrysia |
| Family: | Geometridae |
| Tribe: | Boarmiini |
| Genus: | Peribatodes |
| Species: | P. rhomboidaria |
| Binomial name | |
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Peribatodes rhomboidaria (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Numerous, see text |
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Numerous, see text
The willow beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria) is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is a common species of Europe and adjacent regions (Near East and the Maghreb). While it is found widely throughout Scandinavian countries, which have a maritime climate, it is absent from parts of the former USSR which are at the same latitude but have a more continental climate.
Up to four subspecies are listed by some authors, while others consider the willow beauty a monotypic species or accept only rhomboidaria and sublutearia as distinct:
Under its junior synonym Geometra rhomboidaria, the willow beauty is the type species of its genus Peribatodes. This was initially proposed as a subgenus of Boarmia but eventually elevated to full genus rank.
The adult's wingspan is 40–48 mm. The wings of this species are whitish-grey or -yellowish, though they have a buff or grey appearance from a distance, as they are heavily speckled with brown or black dots. Running over the fore- and hindwings in a semicircle are the two blackish bands commonly found in Ennominae, but they are broken and somewhat indistinct in this species. A tell-tale characteristic is a single bulge in the forewing part of the outer blackish bands. Melanic forms (e.g. rebeli) sometimes occur. The sexes can be distinguished by their antennae, which are strongly feathered in the male, but almost smooth in the female.
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Wikipedia