Biology
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Adults are on the wing from mid-March to mid-April and fly at night. Further north, the adults emerge slightly later on in the year. The caterpillars hatch from the eggs laid by the adults, and are active between May and June; the pupal stage then develops, and overwinters (2). The adults emerge the following spring, starting the cycle once again. This type of life-cycle takes a year to be completed, and is known as 'single-brooded' or 'univoltine', as a single generation or brood is produced during that time.
Conservation
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The Barred Tooth-striped moth is a priority species under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP), and the Species Action Plan produced aims to maintain all known populations, with enhancement of these populations by the year 2010 (1). A number of colonies occur within existing Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and nature reserves (1). Suggested measures to help the species include appropriate habitat management, surveying, monitoring and ecological research (1).
Description
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The Barred Tooth-striped is a greyish coloured moth. The caterpillars are green with two white lines and a dark central line passing along the back. There is also a white line along the sides (3).
Habitat
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Found in clearings and rides in woodlands with calcareous or clay soils and in calcareous downland. In all habitats there must be a supply of the larval foodplants, wild privet (Ligustrum vulgare) or ash (Fraxinus excelsior) (1).
Range
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Although this scarce moth has a wide distribution in the UK, it occurs only locally. Good populations are known in south Cumbria, Breckland and the Hampshire/ Wiltshire border (1). A handful of populations occur elsewhere in southern England (1), and the range reaches through central Europe to Russia (3).
Status
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Classified as Nationally Scarce in Great Britain (1).
Threats
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On downland, the species has suffered as a result of habitat loss and scrub invasion due to inappropriate management. New methods of woodland management have caused problems by removing the foodplant during timber extraction. Woodland clearings and rides can become overgrown and the foodplant shaded out following abandonment or neglect (1).
Trichopteryx polycommata
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Trichopteryx polycommata, the barred tooth-striped, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is found in Europe (threatened in Wales) and the Near East, east to the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, the southern Russian Far East (Primorsk) and Japan (Hokkaido).
Description
The wingspan is 33–36 mm. A handsome species and easily recognized by its rather elongate forewing and by the form and arrangement of the rich, red-brown markings on the glossy, brownish-white wing. Hindwing with disco-cellulars biangulate with the 2nd radial emanating from the lower angle. in typical examples, the distal area of the forewing shows a moderately distinct dark band or shade, set off by the pale subterminal. - In ab. prospicua [Prout] however, the white ground-colour is scarcely dark marked, the median band somewhat darkened, in consequence showing up very clearly and effectively. — ab. albinea Tgstr is almost entirely white, the forewing only with very little fuscous marking. The larva is moderately stout, nearly cylindrical, but rather ridged and wrinkled laterally with small anal points; head rather small, rounded, green; body dark green with darker mediodorsal and slender whitish subdorsal line; lateral stripe narrow, white or pale yellow. Pupa of medium thickness, wing and leg-cases dull green, dorsum and abdomen yellowish red-brown, the former with slight greenish tinge anteriorly. .[1]
Figs 6,6a larvae after final moult
Biology
The larvae feed on Ligustrum vulgare and Fraxinus species. The pupa is placed in a moderately compact cocoon on the surface of the earth Adults are on wing from March to April.
Subspecies
- Trichopteryx polycommata polycommata
-
Trichopteryx polycommata grisea (Djakonov, 1926) (northern Urals, Altai, Sayan, north-eastern Kazakhstan, Kamchatka)
-
Trichopteryx polycommata anna Inoue, 1957
Furthermore, there are a number of named forms, including the melanic form, ab. caliginosa, which has been recorded Sussex.
References
-
^ Prout, L. B. (1912–16). Geometridae. In A. Seitz (ed.) The Macrolepidoptera of the World. The Palaearctic Geometridae, 4. 479 pp. Alfred Kernen, Stuttgart.pdf
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Trichopteryx polycommata: Brief Summary
provided by wikipedia EN
Trichopteryx polycommata, the barred tooth-striped, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Michael Denis and Ignaz Schiffermüller in 1775. It is found in Europe (threatened in Wales) and the Near East, east to the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, the southern Russian Far East (Primorsk) and Japan (Hokkaido).
Illustration from
John Curtis's
British Entomology Volume 6
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