The goldenrod pug (''Eupithecia virgaureata'') 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 Henry Doubleday in 1861. It is found throughout the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

region. In the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, 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 Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

it is widespread but rather locally distributed. Eupithecia virgaureata larva

The ground colour of the forewings is pale grey brownish or fuscous, occasionally with an ochreous tinge, darker along the

costa Costa may refer to: Biology * Rib (Latin: ''costa''), in vertebrate anatomy * Costa (botany), the central strand of a plant leaf or thallus * Costa (coral), a stony rib, part of the skeleton of a coral * Costa (entomology), the leading edge of th ...

, and are marked with distinctive pale

fascia A fascia (; : fasciae or fascias; adjective fascial; ) is a generic term for macroscopic membranous bodily structures. Fasciae are classified as superficial, visceral or deep, and further designated according to their anatomical location. ...

and a whitish tornal spot. The forewing patterning is dominated by a conspicuous, dark discal and smaller costal spots. The obtusely angulated dark grey striae are not defined except on the costa. There is a pale interrupted subterminal line. Melanic forms are quite frequent. 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 17–20 mm. Riley, A.M. and Prior, G. ''British and Irish Pug Moths A Guide to their Identification and Biology'' Apollo Books Wikisource:The Moths of the British Isles Second Series/Chapter 9#230 The larva is slender with short brushes, light yellowish brown with white slashes on the sides and a variety of bell-shaped brown spots on the back.

Similar species

*'' Eupithecia subfuscata'' *'' Eupithecia lariciata'' The species is difficult to determine without examining the genitalia. Two

brood Brood may refer to: Nature * Brood, a collective term for offspring * Brooding, the incubation of bird eggs by their parents * Bee brood, the young of a beehive * Individual broods of North American periodical cicadas: ** Brood X, the largest br ...

s are produced each year with the moths flying in May and June and again in August.''aestiva'' Dietze, the summer generation, is considerably smaller. The caterpillars exhibit different behaviour depending on the generation. The caterpillars of the first generation feed mainly on leaves of deciduous trees, while the second generation is mainly found on the flowers of

goldenrod Goldenrod is a common name for many species of flowering plants in the sunflower family, Asteraceae, commonly in reference to the genus ''Solidago''. Several genera, such as ''Euthamia'', were formerly included in a broader concept of the genu ...

and

ragwort ''Jacobaea vulgaris'', syn. ''Senecio jacobaea'', is a very common wild flower in the family Asteraceae that is native to northern Eurasia, usually in dry, open places, and has also been widely distributed as a weed elsewhere. Common names inc ...

. The species overwinters as a

pupa A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages th ...

Subspecies

*''Eupithecia virgaureata virgaureata'' *''Eupithecia virgaureata alternaria'' Staudinger, 1897 a very weakly marked, sometimes almost unicolorous form from Finmark, Lapland and Transbaikal. *''Eupithecia virgaureata invisa'' Butler, 1878

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

Golden-rod Pug at ''UKMoths''''Lepiforum e.V.''
Eupithecia Moths described in 1861 Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Taxa named by Henry Doubleday {{Eupithecia-stub