Tawny speckled pug

The tawny speckled pug (Eupithecia icterata) is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is found throughout the Palearctic region, the Near East and North Africa.

Tawny speckled pug
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Geometridae
Genus: Eupithecia
Species:
E. icterata
Binomial name
Eupithecia icterata
Synonyms
  • Phalaena icterata Villers, 1789
  • Eupithecia cognata Stephens, 1831
  • Eupithecia ferruginata Duponchel, 1842
  • Eupithecia ligusticata Dietze, 1910
  • Larentia ligustigata Donzel, 1838
  • Larentia oxydata Treitschke, 1828
  • Phalaena subfulvata Haworth, 1809

Unlike many pugs this species is distinctively marked, the brown forewings marked with a large tawny-orange panel (although some races lack this). The hindwings are greyish brown. It is among the larger species in the genus with a wingspan of 20–24 mm. It flies at night in July and August and is attracted to light and some flowers.

The larva is reddish brown with a pale line down each side. It usually feeds on the leaves and flowers of yarrow and has also been recorded on Artemisia and tansy. The species overwinters as a pupa.

Subspecies
  • Eupithecia icterata icterata
  • Eupithecia icterata iranata Schutze, 1960 (Iran)[2]
  • Eupithecia icterata subfulvata (Haworth, 1809)

References
  1. Yu, Dicky Sick Ki. "Eupithecia icterata (Villers 1789)". Home of Ichneumonoidea. Taxapad. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016.
  2. Mironov, V. & U. Ratzel, 2012: New species of the genus Eupithecia Curtis (Lepidoptera, Geometridae, Larentii-nae) from Iran. Zootaxa 3580: 56-68. Abstract:
  • 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


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