The common emerald (''Hemithea aestivaria'') is a

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 Geometridae. The species is found throughout the Nearctic and

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

regions and the

Near East The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

. It is mostly commonly found in the southern half of the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles (O ...

. It was accidentally introduced into southern

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

in 1973. All wings are generally dark green with grey and white chequered fringes and narrow white fascia, two on the forewing, one on the hindwing. The green colouration tends not to fade over time as much as in other emeralds. The hindwings have a sharply angled termen giving the moth a very distinctive shape. The

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 ...

is 30–35 mm. It flies at dusk and night in June and JulyPowell, J. A. and P.A. Opler. (2009). ''Moths of Western North America''. Berkeley: University of California Press and will come to light. The

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. Th ...

is green with reddish-brown markings and black v-shaped marks along the back. The young larva will feed on most plants but later it feeds on trees and

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from tre ...

s. The species overwinters as a larva. # ''The flight season refers to the

. This may vary in other parts of the range.''

Recorded food plants

*'' Aralia'' *'' Artemisia'' *''Betula'' – birch *''

Camellia ''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controvers ...

'' *''Carpinus'' – hornbeam *''Castanea'' – chestnut *'' Citrus'' *''Corylus'' –

hazel The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...

*'' Crataegus'' - hawthorn *'' Diervilla'' – bush honeysuckle *'' Hypericum'' – St John's wort *''Juglans'' – walnut *''Larix'' – larch *''Ligustrum'' – privet *'' Malus'' – apple *''Morus'' –

mulberry ''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 ident ...

*''

Photinia ''Photinia'' () is a genus of about 30 species of small trees and large shrubs, but the taxonomy has recently varied greatly, with the genera ''Heteromeles'', ''Stranvaesia'' and ''Aronia'' sometimes included in ''Photinia''. They are a part of ...

'' *'' Prunus'' *''Quercus'' – oak *''Rhamnus'' – buckthorn *'' Ribes'' – currant *''Rosa'' –

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can b ...

*'' Rubus'' *''Salix'' – willow *''Sorbus'' –

rowan The rowans ( or ) or mountain-ashes are shrubs or trees in the genus ''Sorbus ''Sorbus'' is a genus of over 100 species of trees and shrubs in the rose family, Rosaceae. Species of ''Sorbus'' (''s.l.'') are commonly known as whitebeam, r ...

*''

Tilia ''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperateness, temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Britain a ...

'' – lime *'' Vaccinium'' *'' Viburnum''

Gallery

Image:Hemithea aestivaria larva.jpg, Larva File:Hemithea aestivaria2008 07 08.jpg, At rest File:(1669) Common Emerald (Hemithea aestivaria) (9239392365).jpg, Ventral view File:Hemithea aestivaria SLU.JPG, Museum specimen

References

*Chinery, Michael ''Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe'' 1986 (Reprinted 1991) *Skinner, Bernard ''Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles'' 1984

External links

Common emerald
''UKMoths'' *
"07980 ''Hemithea aestivaria'' (Hübner, 1789) - Gebüsch-Grünspanner"
''Lepiforum e.V.'' Retrieved November 30, 2018. Hemitheini Moths described in 1799 Moths of North America Moths of Europe Moths of Japan Moths of Asia Taxa named by Jacob Hübner {{Geometrinae-stub