Geometridae : Archiearinae
Orange Underwing
ARCHIEARIS parthenias (Linnaeus, 1761)
Orange Underwing
ARCHIEARIS parthenias (Linnaeus, 1761)
Life Cycle Guide
Description
Wingspan: 35-39mm
Worldwide Distribution: Europe : W. Siberia : Sahkalin Island
UK Distribution: Widespread but local over much of England,Wales and Scotland
UK Conservation Status -
Habitat: Rides and edges of Birch Woodland.
Similar Species -
Larva: April-June : The small larva emerge as the Birch bud is starting to open where they feed on the catkins,foraging nocturnally,spending the day in a web of spun leaves.The full grown larva is green with white lateral lines,the lowest line being broader than the rest.
Pupa: They moth pupates in the surface of soft bark.
Overwinters as : Overwinters as a pupa.
Observations: A beautiful moth that is very active in the early spring sunshine flying high up along the rides or edges of Birch trees before settling on the rides to drink from puddles, where they can be disturbed very quickly indeed before flying back into the Birch canopy.
I have found this moth extremely difficult to photograph as their reaction time to shutter release seems as fast as encountered by the Wall butterfly on occasions. Photo 1 was taken at 1/5000 second but the moth was taking flight in the time it took to press the shutter button.
This moth is extremely difficult to distinguish from its similar species which is the Light Orange Underwing,especially if the habitat includes Aspen its larval food plant. The antennae of A.notha males are slightly feathered whereas in A.parthenias the antennae are slightly serrated.Although the two moths can possibly be encountered together A.parthenias does emerge two weeks before A.notha.
Ovum are deposited on twigs and emerge to feed on catkins in April before eating young Birch leaves at night in spun leaves.
Worldwide Distribution: Europe : W. Siberia : Sahkalin Island
UK Distribution: Widespread but local over much of England,Wales and Scotland
UK Conservation Status -
- Local = 101 - 300 10Km Squares
- Least Concern
- Phalaena parthenias (Linnaeus, 1761)
- Phalaena parthenias (Linnaeus, 1761)
- Sweden
Habitat: Rides and edges of Birch Woodland.
Similar Species -
- Light orange Underwing Archiearis notha Hubner, 1803
Larva: April-June : The small larva emerge as the Birch bud is starting to open where they feed on the catkins,foraging nocturnally,spending the day in a web of spun leaves.The full grown larva is green with white lateral lines,the lowest line being broader than the rest.
Pupa: They moth pupates in the surface of soft bark.
Overwinters as : Overwinters as a pupa.
Observations: A beautiful moth that is very active in the early spring sunshine flying high up along the rides or edges of Birch trees before settling on the rides to drink from puddles, where they can be disturbed very quickly indeed before flying back into the Birch canopy.
I have found this moth extremely difficult to photograph as their reaction time to shutter release seems as fast as encountered by the Wall butterfly on occasions. Photo 1 was taken at 1/5000 second but the moth was taking flight in the time it took to press the shutter button.
This moth is extremely difficult to distinguish from its similar species which is the Light Orange Underwing,especially if the habitat includes Aspen its larval food plant. The antennae of A.notha males are slightly feathered whereas in A.parthenias the antennae are slightly serrated.Although the two moths can possibly be encountered together A.parthenias does emerge two weeks before A.notha.
Ovum are deposited on twigs and emerge to feed on catkins in April before eating young Birch leaves at night in spun leaves.
Photo Gallery
Larval Food Plants Worldwide
Note - Plants hyperlinked in red below take the visitor to the relevant plant page on"Plants for a Future" website
where further information like photos,physical
characteristics,habitats,edible uses,medicinal
uses,cultivation,propagation,range,height etc. are clearly listed.
- Plant Families - in bold red below takes the visitor to the relevant "Lepi-plants" page where other butterflies & moths using the plants below are listed.
- Betulaceae - The Birch Family
- Betula nana - Dwarf Birch
- Betula pendula - Silver Birch
- Betula platyphylla - White Birch
- Betula pubescens - Downy Birch
- Betula pubescens ssp tortuosa - Arctic Downy Birch
- Rosaceae - Rose Family
- Sorbus aucuparia - Mountain Ash - Rowan
Larval Food Plants
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Taxonomy
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Kingdom:
Subkingdom: Phylum: Subphylum: Class: Order: Superfamily: Family: Subfamily: Genus: Accepted Species Name: Type Species - ARCHIEARIS: Original Species Name: Species Names: Literary Ref: Type Locality: Forms/Aberrations: |
Animalia
Eumetozoa Arthropoda Hexapoda Insecta Lepidoptera Geometroidea Geometridae Archiearinae ARCHIEARIS Hübner, [1823] Archiearis parthenias (Linnaeus, 1761) - PHALAENA (Noctua) parthenias (Linnaeus, 1761) - = PHALAENA (Noctua) parthenias (Linnaeus, 1761) = Phalaena plebeja Linnaeus, 1761 = Phalaena fulvulata Pallas, 1773 = Phalaena (Noctua) glaucescens Goeze, 1781 = Phalaena (Noctua) glaucofasciata Goeze, 1781 = Brephos parthenias lapponica Rangnow, 1935. - Fauna Suecica (Edn 2) : Title page : p.308 - n.1160 - Sweden - A.p.obscura Prout, 1912-Dull with uniform colour A.p.nigra Tutt, 1892-Black A.p.variegata Lempke, 1949-Forewing paler Brown with more white-Female only A.p.contrasta Lempke, 1949-Forewing basal area black,white spot whitish and well defined-distal area dark grey-brown A.p.nigrobasalis Spuler, 1908-Basal area black A.p.passetii Thierry-Meig, 1884-Basal area more brown A.p.intermedia Lempke, 1949-Hindwing base colour yellow/orange A.p.luteata Hennin, 1910-Hindwing base colour yellow A.p.fasciata Lempke, 1949 A.p.griseocosta Lempke, 1967-Forewing-narrow light grey stripe on costa-base to submarginal line - A.p.sajana Prout, 1912-Far East (Kamchatka Peninsula : Amursk : S.Khabarovsk : Primorsk : Yakutia : S.Siberia mountains) : N.Mongolia A.p.hilara Sawamoto, 1937-Sakhalin A.p.bella Inoue, 1955-Japan A.p.elegans Inoue, 1955-Japan |
