__NOTOC__ The bordered white or pine looper (''Bupalus piniaria''), is a

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Geometridae The geometer moths are moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyleti ...

. Among these, it belongs to

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Bupalini of the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Ennominae Ennominae is the largest subfamily of the geometer moth family (Geometridae), with some 9,700 described species in 1,100 genera. Most species are fairly small, though some (such as the peppered moth) grow to be considerably large. This subfamily ...

. ''B. piniaria'' is a common species throughout the western

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

region, the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

and North

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. However, its presence in certain regions – e.g. the northern

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

– is doubtful. East it is found to Siberia and

Amur Oblast Amur Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located on the banks of the Amur and Zeya rivers in the Russian Far East. The oblast borders Heilongjiang province of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the south. The administrati ...

. Three

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are generally recognized, while two additional ones are doubtfully distinct: * ''Bupalus piniaria bernieri'' de Lajonquiere, 1958 * ''Bupalus piniaria espagnolus'' Eitschberger & Steiniger, 1975 * ''Bupalus piniaria flavescens'' White, 1876 (usually included in ''piniaria'') (MHNT) Bupalus piniaria flavescens - Kosov Slovaquie - Male dorsal.jpg, MHNT ''Bupalus piniaria flavescens'' ♂ (MHNT) Bupalus piniaria flavescens - Kosov Slovaquie - Male ventral.jpg, MHNT ''Bupalus piniaria flavescens'' ♂ △ * ''Bupalus piniaria mughusaria'' Gumppenberg, 1887 (usually included in ''piniaria'') * ''Bupalus piniaria piniaria'' (Linnaeus, 1758) In addition, many

form Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens. Form may also refer to: *Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter dat ...

s (e.g. ''kolleri'') have also been named.

Description and ecology

This moth is an inhabitant of

coniferous Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

. The adults fly in May and June, sometimes later (up to August or so) in the north of the range. Their

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

is 34–40 mm. This is a variable species with strong

sexual dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the condition where sexes of the same species exhibit different Morphology (biology), morphological characteristics, including characteristics not directly involved in reproduction. The condition occurs in most dioecy, di ...

, always conspicuous in the antennae which are combed in the males and plain in the females. Females, particularly when filled with ripe eggs, also have a plumper

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the gut, belly, tummy, midriff, tucky, or stomach) is the front part of the torso between the thorax (chest) and pelvis in humans and in other vertebrates. The area occupied by the abdomen is called the abdominal ...

. (MHNT) Bupalus piniaria - Kosov Slovaquie - Male dorsal.jpg, ''Bupalus piniaria'' ♂ (MHNT) Bupalus piniaria - Kosov Slovaquie - Male ventral.jpg, ♂ △ (MHNT) Bupalus piniaria - Kosov Slovaquie - Female dorsal.jpg, ''Bupalus piniaria''♀ (MHNT) Bupalus piniaria - Kosov Slovaquie - Female ventral.jpg, ♀ △ The male has upperwings with broad dark brown borders and spots and a background varying from white in the north to deep yellow in southern populations. The female is plainer, varying from yellow to brown on the upperwings, which have slightly darker crosswise stripes. In both sexes, the wingtips are darkest. The underwings are less dimorphic, orange-brown with darker tips on the forewings and marbled light brown with a whitish lengthwise stripe on the hindwings in both sexes. The male's underwings have a wider whitish hindwing stripe and darker forewing tips, while the females have a more contrasting hindwing pattern. All four wings are bordered by a short fringe of alternating sections of white and dark brown hairs. Bilateral

gynandromorph Gynandromorphism is the phenomenon that occurs when an individual organism possesses both male and female phenotypes due to genetic chimera of sex chromosomes in cells across the body and is most easily recognized in species that display sexu ...

s are easily recognized in this species. The

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

(also known as a

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

) can be a serious pest in conifer

plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

s. They are green with pale lines and usually feed on various species of

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

(''Pinus''), especially

Scots pine ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US), Baltic pine, or European red pine is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-gr ...

(''P. sylvestris'') and

European black pine ''Pinus nigra'', the Austrian pine or black pine, is a moderately variable species of pine, occurring across Southern Europe from the Iberian Peninsula and Lower Austria to the eastern Mediterranean, on the Anatolian peninsula of Turkey, Corsica ...

(''P. nigra''). It has also been recorded feeding on

Douglas-fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is the tallest tree in the Pinaceae family. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Or ...

(''Pseudotsuga menziesii''),

larch Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to the cooler regions of the northern hemisphere, where they are found in lowland forests in the high la ...

(''Larix'') and

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

(''Picea'', e.g.

Norway spruce ''Picea abies'', the Norway spruce or European spruce, is a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, 9–17 cm long. It is very clo ...

''P. abies''). Larvae have four to six

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'' 'form, likeness') is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, which occurs between each moult (''ecdysis'') until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to ...

s and

pupate A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages the ...

in the soil where they overwinter. File:Bupalus piniaria femelle par Nemos.jpg, Upperwings of southern adult female File:Bupalus.piniaria.7489.jpg, Underwings of adult male from

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

(Germany) File:Bupalus.piniaria.7513.jpg, Underwings of adult female from Dresden (Germany) File:Bupalus_piniaria_ova.jpg, Eggs File:Männivaksiku röövik.jpg, Early instar larvae File:Bupalus piniarius 1 beentree.jpg,

Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

Taxonomy

It is (under its original

scientific name In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''Phalaena piniaria'') the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of its

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Bupalus Bupalus () and Athenis (), were sons of Archermus, and members of the celebrated school of sculpture in marble which flourished in Chios in the 6th century BC. They were contemporaries of the poet Hipponax, whom they were said to have caricature ...

'', as well as the

junior objective synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. ...

s ''Catograpta'', ''Chleuastes'' and ''Phaophyga'', and the

preoccupied In biology, a homonym is a name for a taxon that is identical in spelling to another such name, that belongs to a different taxon. The rule in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is that the first such name to be published is the s ...

'' Bupala''. Via its genus, it is also the type of the Bupalini. ''Bupalus'' was raised by the English

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

William Elford Leach William Elford Leach (2 February 1791 – 25 August 1836) was an English zoologist and marine biologist. Life and work Elford Leach was born at Hoe Gate, Plymouth, the son of an attorney. At the age of twelve he began a medical apprenticesh ...

, in 1815 and is the name of a 6th-century BC Greek sculptor. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''piniaria'' refers to ''Pinus'' the pine tree genus and food-plant.

Footnotes

References

* (2007): ''Domino Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe'' (Revised ed.). A. & C. Black, London. * (2004)
Butterflies and Moths of the World, Generic Names and their Type-species
&ndash
''Bupalus''
Version of 5 November 2004. Retrieved 13 May 2010. * (1942): Ein geteilter Zwitter von ''Bupalus piniarius'' L. A bilateral gynandromorph of the Bordered White" ''Zeitschrift des Wiener Entomologen-Vereins'' 27: 287-288

n German N, or n, is the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

br>PDF fulltext
* (2001): Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and some other life forms &ndash

'sic''">sic.html" ;"title="'sic">'sic'' Version of 1 October 2001. Retrieved 13 May 2010. * (1984): ''Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles''.

External links

Bordered white at ''UKMoths''''Lepidoptera of Belgium''Trees for Life''Vlindernet.nl''
{{Taxonbar">from=Q24342 Bupalini Moths described in 1758 Moths described in 1758">Bupalini Moths described in 1758 Moths of Africa Moths of Asia">Moths of Africa">Moths described in 1758">Bupalini Moths described in 1758 Moths of Africa Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus