| Scarlet Tiger Moth | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Arctiidae |
| Genus: | Callimorpha |
| Species: | C. dominula |
| Binomial name | |
| Callimorpha dominula (Linnaeus, 1758) |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Panaxia dominula |
|
The Scarlet Tiger Moth (Callimorpha dominula, formerly Panaxia dominula) is a colorful moth of Europe, Turkey, Transcaucasus, northern Iran. It belongs to the tiger moth family, Arctiidae.
The caterpillars feed mostly on comfrey (Symphytum officinale). The imagines fly by day.
It can occur in rare colour forms, one with yellow hindwings and body and one with extended black on hindwings.
The three morph occurring in the population at the Cothill reserve in Oxfordshire, Britain, have been the subject of considerable genetic study (McNamara 1998).
McNamara (1998) describes how amateurs can rear this species.