''Euchoeca'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

moth genus in the family

Geometridae The geometer moths are moths belonging to the family Geometridae of the insect order Lepidoptera, the moths and butterflies. Their scientific name derives from the Ancient Greek ''geo'' γεω (derivative form of or "the earth"), and ''metr ...

erected by

Jacob Hübner Jacob Hübner (20 June 1761 – 13 September 1826, in Augsburg) was a German entomologist. He was the author of ''Sammlung Europäischer Schmetterlinge'' (1796–1805), a founding work of entomology. Scientific career Hübner was the author of '' ...

in 1823. Its only species, ''Euchoeca nebulata'', the dingy shell, was described by

Giovanni Antonio Scopoli Giovanni Antonio Scopoli (sometimes Latinized as Johannes Antonius Scopolius) (3 June 1723 – 8 May 1788) was an Italian physician and naturalist. His biographer Otto Guglia named him the "first anational European" and the "Linnaeus of the Au ...

in 1763. It is found in the

Palearctic realm 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-Si ...

, from Europe across

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

to Japan. 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 . The ground colour of the forewing is sandy brown or orange cream. The wings have very fine and faint darker cross lines and creamy-brown chequered fringes. There is a double curve on the termen of the hindwing.The caterpillar is green, with three lines along the dorsum, the central one dark green, and the others yellow and a purple stripe runs along under the spiracles. In another form the general colour is greyish with a reddish-brown stripe along the back, and series of spots of the same colour along the sides. The moth flies from April to September depending on the location. The larvae feed on

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

and

alder Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...

in damp woodland, fens and other marshy areas.

References

External links

*
Dingy shell on ''UKMoths''

''Lepiforum e.V.''''Vlindernet.nl''
Asthenini Moths described in 1763 Moths of Japan Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Taxa named by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli Monotypic moth genera {{Asthenini-stub