Peribatodes rhomboidaria

([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775)

  • Subfamily: Ennominae, Boarmiini
  • Wingspan: 32-45 mm
  • Flight period: May - Oct
  • Spread: Common
  • Host plants: Polyphagous

Information

The Peribatodes rhomboidaria also called Willow Beauty is a moth of the Geometridae family, subfamily Ennominae, with a wingspan of 32-45 mm.
It is distributed in almost all of Europe, it is absent from northern Russia and the Baltic countries. *
In Italy it is also present in the islands. *
Its range extends to the Middle East and North Africa.

The Peribatodes rhomboidaria is a large moth, with a pattern that provides almost perfect camouflage on tree trunks. The wings of this species are whitish-gray or yellowish, although they have a fuzzy or gray appearance from a distance, as they are heavily dotted with brown or black dots. The two blackish bands commonly found in the Ennominae subfamily run along the front and rear wings in a semicircle, but they are broken and somewhat indistinct in this species. A telltale feature is a single bulge in the front of the outer black bands. The head, thorax and abdomen are in the background color of the wings. **

The typical forms are brown in color with darker patterns and streaks, but there is also a greyish form, f. perfumaria, as well as an almost melanic black variant.
As in other species belonging to this family, the dimorphism is detectable by the antennae, comb-like in males, almost smooth in females.

Uni or bivoltine this moth flies mainly at night from late June to September (September in temperate zones) and is easily attracted to sources of artificial light. It usually winters in the pupal state, but has also been found in the warmer areas in the larva state.

The eggs are knurled, initially green, subsequently they change to yellow-orange. **
Caterpillars are reddish-brown, or greyish with often diamond-shaped designs, their larval food plants are dead deciduous tree species. The pupa is amber in color with the part of the abdominal segments dark brown, the Cremaster has the terminal part divided in two. **
Habitats are varied from sunny woodlands and forests to gardens, scrublands and parks.

As mentioned, there are many host plants of Peribatodes rhomboidaria divided into many families like Araliaceae, Caprifoliaceae, Fagaceae, Oleaceae, Ranunculaceae, Rhamnaceae, Rosaceae and Taxaceae.


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Bestimmungshilfe für die in Europa nachgewiesenen Schmetterlingsarten - http://lepiforum.de/

Peribatodes rhomboidaria
Peribatodes rhomboidaria
Peribatodes rhomboidaria
Peribatodes rhomboidaria
Peribatodes rhomboidaria
Peribatodes rhomboidaria
Peribatodes rhomboidaria
Peribatodes rhomboidaria
Peribatodes rhomboidaria
Peribatodes rhomboidaria
Peribatodes rhomboidaria
Peribatodes rhomboidaria
Peribatodes rhomboidaria
Peribatodes rhomboidaria
Peribatodes rhomboidaria