Emmiltis pygmaearia

• Subfamily: Sterrhinae, Sterrhini
• Wingspan: 09-13 mm
• Flight period: Apr - Sep
• Spread: Uncommon / Rare
• Host plants: Fabaceae

Information

The Emmiltis pygmaearia also called Wayfarer is a moth of the Geometridae family, subfamily Sterrhinae, with a wingspan of 09-13 mm.
It is distributed in France (Maritime Alps), Switzerland, Croatia (northern border), Slovenia and Italy where it is absent from the islands.
Outside of Italy it is considered a rare species. ***

The wings of Emmiltis pygmaearia have a background color ranging from light brown to ocher, the wings are crossed longitudinally by three wavy lines tending to white, sometimes edged in a dark shade of the base color. A thin brown line is visible along the edge. A small dark spot is visible between the radial area and the median area.

The hind wings have the same color and design as the front ones, slightly lighter. The edge is fringed in the base color, sometimes brown checks are visible. Head and thorax are in the background color of the front wings, the abdomen in the color of the hind wings.

bivoltine moth has two generations that overlap from April to September. The sexual dimorphism is evidenced by the antennae, which in the male are comb-like, an aspect not present in the females and by an area of ​​brown color near the inner corner of the rear wing, which is much more evident in males.
Uncommon, sometimes rare and little known, it flies by day in meadows and poor soils from the plains to the hills.

The larva grows on various Fabaceae from which they feed on dry leaves. ****


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Bestimmungshilfe für die in Europa nachgewiesenen Schmetterlingsarten - http://lepiforum.de/
*** Les papillons de France - https://oreina.org/
**** Roland Robineau, Guide de papillons nocturne de France, Delachaux et Niestlé, 2011 p.37