Large Emerald

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Large Emerald

Conservation status
Secure
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Geometridae
Subfamily: Geometrinae
Tribe: Geometrini
Genus: Geometra
Species: G. papilionaria
Binomial name
Geometra papilionaria
Linnaeus, 1758
The large emerald is also one of the Twenty Treasures of Zork from the Infocom text adventure Zork I.

The Large Emerald, (Geometra papilionaria), is a moth, the type specimen for the family Geometridae. It is found throughout the Palearctic region and the Near East.

This is a large and attractive species, as the specific name suggests very butterfly like, with a wingspan of 50-65 mm. Newly emerged adults are bright green with darker green and white fascia, though the green colouration fades after a few days. It flies at night from June to August [1] and is attracted to light.

The larva is brown at first, turning green later, and feeds mainly on birch though it has also been recorded on alder, beech, hazel and rowan. The species overwinters as a larva.

  1. ^ The flight season refers to the British Isles. This may vary in other parts of the range.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  • 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