The common pug ''(Eupithecia vulgata)'' is a
moth of the family
Geometridae. It is a common species across the
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 ...
region, including 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 ...
and North
Africa. It ranges from the Atlantic coast of
Ireland and
Portugal across Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia to the
Russian Far East (Priamurje) and
Korea.
Description
The
wingspan is 18–21 mm. The ground colour of the forewings variously is very variable – brown to
fuscous, with a reddish tinge, ochreous, or whitish. The darker fuscous striae are angulated and the postmedian line is biangulate. The posterior edge of the median band is marked with black, the subterminal line is interrupted into whitish dots and a small white tornal mark. The forewings have either a minute dark discal mark or are without a discal mark. Forewings with a crescentic pale tornal stain. The hindwings are similarly to the forewings but less conspicuously patterned. See also Prout.
[Prout, L. B. (1912–16). Geometridae. In A. Seitz (ed.) ''The Macrolepidoptera of the World''. The Palaearctic Geometridae, 4. 479 pp. Alfred Kernen, Stuttgar]
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The larva is naked, long and slender, greyish green or light brown, on its back with a variety of rhomboid, darker spots.The reddish brown pupa has olive green wing sheaths. At the pointed cremaster there are eight hook bristles.
Two broods are produced each year with adults on the wing in May and June and again in August. The species flies at night and is attracted to light. It colonizes a variety of different habitats, such as forest edges, bushes, hedges, embankments and
plant corridors as well as gardens and parks. The occurrence in the Alps reaches up to 1500 meters.
The
larvae feed on a variety of plants (see list below). The species overwinters as a
pupa.
Larval food plants
*''
Achillea'' – yarrow
*''
Artemisia''
*''
Campanula
''Campanula'' () is one of several genera of flowering plants in the family Campanulaceae commonly known as bellflowers. They take both their common and scientific names from the bell-shaped flowers — ''campanula'' is Latin for "little bell" ...
'' – harebell
*''
Centaurea''
*''
Crataegus
''Crataegus'' (), commonly called hawthorn, quickthorn, thornapple, Voss, E. G. 1985. ''Michigan Flora: A guide to the identification and occurrence of the native and naturalized seed-plants of the state. Part II: Dicots (Saururaceae–Cornacea ...
'' – hawthorn
*''
Galium'' – bedstraw
*''
Salix'' – willow
*''
Senecio'' – ragwort
*''
Solidago'' – goldenrod
*''
Vaccinium'' – bilberry
Subspecies
*''Eupithecia vulgata vulgata''
*''Eupithecia vulgata clarensis''
Huggins, 1962 Ireland
*''Eupithecia vulgata lepsaria''
Staudinger, 1882 Kazakhstan
*''Eupithecia vulgata scotica''
Cockayne, 1951 Scotland
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
Lepiforum.deUKmoths
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1947546
Eupithecia
Moths described in 1809
Moths of Africa
Moths of Asia
Moths of Europe
Taxa named by Adrian Hardy Haworth