Rheumaptera undulata
Encyclopedia
The Scallop Shell is a moth
of the Geometridae family. It is found in most of the Palearctic ecozone and North America
.
The wingspan
is 25-30 mm. There is one generation per year with adults on wing from the end of May to August in Europe.
The larva
e feed on Betula (including Betula verrucosa and Betula pubescens), Vaccinium
(including Vaccinium myrtillus
and Vaccinium uliginosum
) and Salix species (including Salix myrtilloides, Salix caprea, Salix aurita
, Salix cinerea, Salix myrsinifolia
and Salix phylicifolia
), as well as Populus tremula
, Populus balsamifera
, Berberis vulgaris
, Ribes alpinum
, Spiraea salicifolia, Sorbus aucuparia
, Elaeagnus commutata
and Myrica gale
. Larvae can be found in August and September. It overwinters as a pupa.
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 Geometridae family. It is found in most of the Palearctic ecozone and North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
.
The wingspan
Wingspan
The wingspan of an airplane or a bird, is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777 has a wingspan of about ; and a Wandering Albatross caught in 1965 had a wingspan of , the official record for a living bird.The term wingspan, more technically extent, is...
is 25-30 mm. There is one generation per year with adults on wing from the end of May to August in Europe.
The larva
Larva
A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...
e feed on Betula (including Betula verrucosa and Betula pubescens), Vaccinium
Vaccinium
Vaccinium is a genus of shrubs or dwarf shrubs in the plant Family Ericaceae. The fruit of many species are eaten by humans and some are of commercial importance, including the cranberry, blueberry, bilberry or whortleberry, lingonberry or cowberry, and huckleberry...
(including Vaccinium myrtillus
Vaccinium myrtillus
Vaccinium myrtillus is an almost Holarctic species of shrub with edible fruit, usually simply referred to as "bilberry" or "whortleberry". It is more precidely called Common Bilberry or Blue Whortleberry, to distinguish it from its Vaccinium relatives...
and Vaccinium uliginosum
Vaccinium uliginosum
Vaccinium uliginosum is a flowering plant in the genus Vaccinium.-Distribution:Vaccinium uliginosum is native to cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, at low altitudes in the Arctic, and at high altitudes south to the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Caucasus in Europe, the mountains of...
) and Salix species (including Salix myrtilloides, Salix caprea, Salix aurita
Salix aurita
Salix aurita is a species of willow distributed over much of Europe, and occasionally cultivated. It is a shrub to 2.5 m in height, distinguished from the similar but slightly larger Salix cinerea by its reddish petioles and young twigs. It was given its name because of the persistent...
, Salix cinerea, Salix myrsinifolia
Salix myrsinifolia
Salix myrsinifolia is a species of willow native to Europe and Western Siberia. It forms a 2–5 m high shrub. In the north it becomes often a tree up to 8 m tall....
and Salix phylicifolia
Salix phylicifolia
Salix phylicifolia is a species of willow native to Europe, the Faroe Islands, Scandinavia, Finland, Russia, and Western Siberia.-External links:*...
), as well as Populus tremula
Populus tremula
Populus tremula, commonly called aspen, common aspen, Eurasian aspen, European aspen, trembling poplar, or quaking aspen, is a species of poplar native to cool temperate regions of Europe and Asia, from the British Isles east to Kamchatka, north to inside the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia and...
, Populus balsamifera
Populus balsamifera
Populus balsamifera, commonly called balsam poplar, bamtree, eastern balsam poplar, hackmatack, tacamahac poplar, tacamahaca,...
, Berberis vulgaris
Berberis vulgaris
Berberis vulgaris /// is a shrub in the family Berberidaceae, native to central and southern Europe, northwest Africa and western Asia; it is also naturalised in northern Europe, including the British Isles and Scandinavia, and North America.It is a deciduous shrub growing up to 4 m high...
, Ribes alpinum
Ribes alpinum
Ribes alpinum, or Alpine Currant, is a small deciduous shrub native to central and northern Europe from Finland and Norway south to the Alps and Pyrenees; in the south of its range, it is confined to high altitudes...
, Spiraea salicifolia, Sorbus aucuparia
Sorbus aucuparia
Sorbus aucuparia , is a species of the genus Sorbus, native to most of Europe except for the far south, and northern Asia...
, Elaeagnus commutata
Elaeagnus commutata
Elaeagnus commutata , is a species of Elaeagnus native to western and boreal North America, from southern Alaska through British Columbia east to Quebec, south to Utah, and across the upper Midwestern United States to South Dakota and western Minnesota...
and Myrica gale
Myrica gale
Myrica gale is a species of flowering plant in the genus Myrica, native to northern and western Europe and parts of northern North America. It is a deciduous shrub growing to 1–2 m tall. Common names include Bog Myrtle and Sweet Gale...
. Larvae can be found in August and September. It overwinters as a pupa.
Subspecies
- Rheumaptera undulata undulata
- Rheumaptera undulata sajana Bryk, 1921