| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Geometridae |
Mesogrammia, Mesotype.
Adults. Antennae of males simple; simply-ciliate. Face smooth to rough (with somewhat projecting scales).
Wingspan 22–25 mm. Forewings relatively narrow-elongate to relatively broad. The outer margin of the forewing convexly curved. Forewings not predominantly green, yellow, or black; greyish or fuscous, whitish-sprinkled, with dark transverse lines; predominantly pale fuscous, or pale grey; with a clear discal mark (this blackish); with a distinct median band to without a median band (with a more or less distinguished dark band, which is however light in the middle). Hindwings plain; light grey; predominantly pale grey; without a clear discal mark; transversely lined (with a pale bent postmedian and some darker striae).
Vein 10 of the forewings arising independently of 9; arising independently, anastomosing with 11 and 9 to form a double areole. Hindwings exhibiting a tubular vein 5. Vein 5 of the hindwings arising from about the middle of the transverse vein, or arising from below the middle of the transverse vein (?). 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 stalked.
Early stages. Larvae feeding on Galium.
British representation. 1 species; South-east England, Central-southern England, South-west England, English Midlands, Northern England, Wales, and Ireland (local). Living adults found May to July. P. virgata (The Oblique Striped).
Subfamily. Larentiinae.
Illustrations. • British Lythria, Phibalapteryx, Orthonama, Xanthorhoe and Catarhoe: Newman (1869). 1, Lythria purpuraria (Purple-barred Yellow, a-c males, d female); 2, Phibalapteryx virgata (The Oblique-striped); 3(a) & 3(b), Orthonama obstipata (The Gem, female and male); 4, Orthonama vittata (Oblique Carpet); 5, Xanthorhoe designata (Flame Carpet); 6, Xanthorhoe spadicearia (Red Twin-spot Carpet); 7, Xanthorhoe decoloraria (Red Carpet); 8, Xanthorhoe ferrugata (Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet); 9, Xanthorhoe quadrifasciaria (Large Twin-spot Carpet); 10, Xanthorhoe montanata (Silver-ground Carpet); 11(a) & 11(b), Xanthorhoe fluctuata (Garden Carpet, female and male); 12, Catarhoe cuculata (Royal Mantle); 13, Catarhoe rubidata (The Flame, The Ruddy Carpet). From Newman (1869).
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’.
