''Apoda limacodes'', also known as the festoon, is a species of

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of ...

of the family

Limacodidae The Limacodidae or Eucleidae are a family of moths in the superfamily Zygaenoidea or the Cossoidea;Scoble, M.J. (1992). ''The Lepidoptera: Form, Function and Diversity.'' Oxford University Press. the placement is in dispute. They are often c ...

Distribution and habitat

The moth is found in most of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

. Within

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, the species is scarce. The festoon mainly inhabits thick woodlands. The larvae are known to feed on oak and

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engl ...

Life cycle and behaviour

The larva is small and grub-like. After storms, caterpillars are often observed in large numbers between August and October. Cocoons are not attached, but overwinter and pupate in the spring. Adults have a

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan ...

of 24–28 mm, with male specimens generally slightly smaller and darker than females. It is primarily nocturnal, but it will occasionally fly in the daytime. The moth usually flies between June and July.

References

External links

Fauna EuropaeaLepiforum.deVlindernet.nl
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1103233 Limacodidae Moths of Europe Taxa named by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel Moths described in 1766