The lime-speck pug (''Eupithecia centaureata'') is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is a common species throughout 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 (where it is found in Europe, Central Asia, Mongolia, southern Siberia, eastern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

(Guangdong) and Taiwan), 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.

Description

This is a distinctive species, all the wings being largely white except for a black blotch on the costa of the forewing. The wingspan is 20–24 mm. In the ab. ''obscura'' Dietze.(perhaps developed chiefly in Asia but also recorded from the Tyrol) the ground-colour of both wings has a smoky suffusion. In the ab. ''centralisata'' Stgr., chiefly from Palestine and Central Asia, the markings are weaker, sometimes (except the discal mark) almost entirely obsolete.Prout, L. B. (1912–16). Geometridae. In A. Seitz (ed.) ''The Macrolepidoptera of the World''. The Palaearctic Geometridae, 4. 479 pp. Alfred Kernen, Stuttgar
pdf *
/ref> The larva is long and thin, white-yellow with a red dorsal stripe and horseshoe-shaped red spots running down the sides. Often two broods are produced each year and the adults can be seen at any time during the summer and autumn. The moths fly at night and are attracted to light and

nectar Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...

-rich flowers. The larva is rather variable but is usually green or yellow, often with red markings. It feeds on the flowers of a variety of plants (see list below). The species overwinters as a pupa. Eupithecia centaureata larva

Larval food plants

*'' Achillea'' – yarrow *'' Angelica'' *'' Arctium'' – burdock *''

Artemisia Artemisia may refer to: People * Artemisia I of Caria (fl. 480 BC), queen of Halicarnassus under the First Persian Empire, naval commander during the second Persian invasion of Greece * Artemisia II of Caria (died 350 BC), queen of Caria under th ...

'' *'' Calluna'' – heather *''

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" ...

'' *'' Centaurea'' *'' Cirsium'' – thistle *'' Crambe'' *'' Filipendula'' – meadowsweet *'' Galium'' – bedstraw *'' Hieracium'' – hawkweed *''

Lotus Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...

'' – bird's-foot trefoil *'' Lysimachia'' – yellow loosestrife *'' Matricaria'' – mayweed *''

Medicago ''Medicago'' is a genus of flowering plants, commonly known as medick or burclover, in the legume family (Fabaceae). It contains at least 87 species and is distributed mainly around the Mediterranean basin. The best-known member of the genus is ...

'' – alfalfa *'' Pimpinella'' – burnet saxifrage *''

Rumex The docks and sorrels, genus ''Rumex'', are a genus of about 200 species of annual, biennial, and perennial herbs in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae. Members of this genus are very common perennial herbs with a native almost worldwide distribu ...

'' – sorrel *''

Selinum ''Selinum'' is a Eurasiatic genus of flowering plants in the parsley family Apiaceae. Species , Plants of the World Online accepted the following species: *'' Selinum alatum'' (M.Bieb.) Poir. *'' Selinum broteroi'' Hoffmanns. & Link *''Selinum ca ...

'' – milk-parsley *'' Silene'' – bladder campion *'' Solidago'' – goldenrod *'' Tanacetum'' – tansy *''

Trifolium Clover or trefoil are common names for plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (from Latin ''tres'' 'three' + ''folium'' 'leaf'), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume or pea family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus h ...

'' – red clover *'' Vicia'' – tufted vetch

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.de
Eupithecia Moths described in 1775 Moths of Africa Moths of Asia Moths of Europe Taxa named by Michael Denis Taxa named by Ignaz Schiffermüller {{Eupithecia-stub