| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Geometridae |
Himera, Metra.
Adults. Nocturnal (much attracted to light); relatively stout-bodied to slender-bodied. Antennae of males very strongly bipectinate; bipectinate to the apex. Face rough (roughly hairy). Eyes each crossed by a sub-antennal hair-tuft. Tongue absent.
Wingspan 46–50 mm. The outer margin of the forewing sigmoid-curved. Forewings the male rich reddish-ochreous, sprinkled fuscous, the female paler, both with dark first and second lines, a discal spot, and a whitish or grey subapical spot; with a clear discal mark (this dark fuscous). Forewings of the male without a fovea. Hindwings conspicuously patterned, or plain (the line being sharper in the male); coloured similarly to the forewings, but paler, especially basally; with a clear discal mark; transversely lined (with a median line only).
Hindwings lacking a tubular vein 5. Vein 8 of the hindwings approximated to or anastomosed with the upper margin of the cell to the middle or beyond. Hindwing veins 6 and 7 separate.
Posterior tibiae of males 4-spurred.
Early stages. Larvae feeding on foliage of Quercus, Fagus, etc.
British representation. 1 species; South-east England, Central-southern England, South-west England, English Midlands, Northern England, Southern Scotland, Northern Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Living adults found October and November. C. pennaria (Feathered Thorn).
Subfamily. Ennominae.
Illustrations. • Ennominae (‘Thorns’, etc.): Kirby 46. ENNOMINAE. 1, Ennomos quercinaria (August Thorn); 2, Ennomos autumnaria (Large Thorn); 3, Ennomos alniaria (Canary-shouldered Thorn); 4, Ennomos erosaria (September Thorn); 5, Selenia dentaria (Early Thorn); 6, Selenia lunularia (Lunar Thorn); 7, Selenia tetralunaria (Purple Thorn); 8, Apeira syringaria (Lilac Beauty); 9, Artiora evonymaria; 10, Odontopera bidentata (Scalloped Hazel); 11, Colotois pennaria (Feathered Thorn); 12, Crocallis elinguaria (Scalloped Oak); 13, Plagodis dolabraria (Scorch-wing); 14, Angerona prunaria (Orange Moth); 15, Ourapteryx sambucaria (Swallow-tailed Moth); 16, Opisthograptis luteolata (Brimstone Moth). From Kirby 36, with updated names. • Assorted Ennominae (‘Thorns’, with larvae): Humphreys, 1860. ‘THORNS’. 1 & 2, Colotois pennaria (Feathered Thorn); 3 & 4, Crocallis elinguaria (Scalloped Oak); 5 & 6, Odontopera bidentata (Scalloped Hazel); 7, Ennomos autumnaria (Large Thorn); 8 & 9, Ennomos alniaria (Canary-shouldered Thorn); 10 & 11, Ennomos erosaria (September Thorn); 12 & 13, Ennomos quercinaria (August Thorn); 14, Selenia tetralunaria (Purple Thorn). From Humphreys (1860).
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Geometridae. Version: 14th February 2021. delta-intkey.com’.
