''Cyclophora ruficiliaria'', the Jersey mocha, 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
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 ...
. The species was
first described by
Gottlieb August Wilhelm Herrich-Schäffer
Gottlieb (formerly D. Gottlieb & Co.) was an American arcade game corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is best known for creating a vast line of pinball machines and arcade games (including ''Q*bert'') throughout much of the 20th century.
...
in 1855. It can be found in Europe, in particular the
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...
as well as other parts of the mainland United Kingdom.
The first ever recorded sighting of the Jersey mocha on the British mainland was in July 2003 at
Isle of Portland
The Isle of Portland is a tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. The southern tip, Portland Bill, lies south of the resort of Weymouth, Dorset, Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A barrier ...
, Dorset. Subsequently, the butterfly has been found again in Dorset, and has set up a small breeding colony in south-west Cornwall. The first recorded sighting of the moth in Hertfordshire occurred in September 2016, on
Roughdown Common.
Description
The
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 25–30 mm. It is a plain pale brown moth with faint crosslines and unringed white discal spots (sometimes obsolete) on the fore and hindwings. Certain identification requires examination of preparations of the genitalia. See similar species (below).
Biology
The moths fly from April to September depending on the location.
The larvae feed on
oak
An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
.
Similar species
''Cyclophora ruficiliaria'' is difficult to certainly distinguish from these congeners. See Townsend et al.
[Martin C. Townsend, Jon Clifton and Brian Goodey (2010)]
''British and Irish Moths: An Illustrated Guide to Selected Difficult Species''
(covering the use of genitalia characters and other features) Butterfly Conservation.
*Blair's mocha ''
Cyclophora puppillaria'' (Herrich-Schäffer, 1855)
*False Mocha ''
Cyclophora porata'' (Linnaeus, 1767)
*Maiden’s Blush ''
Cyclophora punctaria'' (Linnaeus, 1758)
*Clay Triple-lines ''
Cyclophora linearia'' (Hübner, 1799)
References
External links
Jersey mocha on ''UKMoths''''Lepiforum e.V.''
Moths described in 1855
Cyclophora (moth)
Moths of Europe
Taxa named by Gottlieb August Wilhelm Herrich-Schäffer
{{Sterrhinae-stub