The Clouded Magpie is a moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

 of the family Geometridae that was named by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli

Giovanni Antonio Scopoli

Giovanni Antonio Scopoli was an Italian physician and naturalist.-Biography:...

 in 1763.

Description

This moth is mostly white with brownish patches across all of the wings. There are small areas of pale gray on the forewings and hindwings. They resemble bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

 droppings while resting on the upper surface of leaves. The adults fly from late May to early August. They are attracted to light. The wingspan is 38 mm. to 48 mm. The moth is nocturnal and is easy to find during the day. They are easy to find resting during the morning. The moth starts being active at early dusk

Dusk

Dusk is the beginning of darkness in the evening, and occurs after twilight, when the sky generally remains bright and blue. Civil dusk is when the earth has rotated enough that the center of the sun is at 6° below the local horizon...

. The moths eat the plants Betula, Corylus, Fagus

Beech

Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...

, Ulmus, Prunus

Prunus

Prunus is a genus of trees and shrubs, which includes the plums, cherries, peaches, apricots and almonds. There are around 430 species spread throughout the northern temperate regions of the globe. Many members of the genus are widely cultivated for fruit and ornament.-Botany:Members of the genus...

, and Frangula. Abraxas grossulariata

Abraxas grossulariata

Abraxas grossulariata is a moth of the family Geometridae, native to Europe and North America. Its distinctive speckled colouration has given it a common name of Magpie Moth...

is similar to this species. In a group of specimens of this species, the largest one is 60 mm. while the smallest one is 31 mm. The moth is more common in Eastern Asia than in Europe. The species is listed as a priority species in the United Kingdom Biodiversity Action Plan

United Kingdom Biodiversity Action Plan

The United Kingdom Biodiversity Action Plan is the governmental response to the Convention on Biological Diversity signed in 1992. When the Biodiversity Action Plans were first published in 1994, the conservation of 391 species and 45 habitats was covered. 1,150 species and 65 habitats are...

.

Caterpillars

Caterpillar

Caterpillar

Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...

s appear from mid-July to early October. They overwinter as a pupa

Pupa

A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. The pupal stage is found only in holometabolous insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, going through four life stages; embryo, larva, pupa and imago...

. The body of the caterpillar is distinctive because it is marked with longitudinal black and yellow stripes. The caterpillars feed on Wych Elm

Wych Elm

Ulmus glabra, the Wych elm or Scots elm, has the widest range of the European elm species, from Ireland eastwards to the Urals, and from the Arctic Circle south to the mountains of the Peloponnese in Greece; it is also found in Iran...

 and Common Elm. The pupa hibernates underground. The caterpillars live on several deciduous trees such as Fagus sylvatica, Ulmus glabra, and Ulmus procera.

Habitat

The moth was considered rare until the late 1990s in Northern Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

. The species can be found from Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 to Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. The moth can be found in forests, thickets, and sometimes parks on various deciduous trees.

Subspecies

• Abraxas sylvata sylvata
• Abraxas sylvata microtate Wehrli, 1931 (Japan)

External links

• Recente waarnemingen on waarneming.nl