Brindled beauty

• Lycia hirtaria cataloniae Vojnits & Mészáros, 1973
• Lycia hirtaria diniensis (Oberthür, 1913)
• Lycia hirtaria hanoviensis (Heymons, 1891)
• Lycia hirtaria hirtaria (Clerck, 1760)
• Lycia hirtaria istriana (Galvagni, 1901)
• Lycia hirtaria pusztae Vojnits, 1971
• Lycia hirtaria uralaria (Krulikovsky, 1909)

[1]

This species can be found in most of Europe, including Russia, Caucasus, Transcaucasia, Asia Minor, South Siberia, Yakutia, Russian Far East, Sakhalin and Japan.[2]

These moths prefer woodland and suburban areas.[3]

Female of Lycia hirtaria

The brindled beauty has a wingspan of 4–5 cm. It is a large-bodied furry moth, which has a pattern which provides near-perfect camouflage on tree trunks and also gives the moth its name. The forewing ground colour is usually grey with black dusting. There is a curved anterior and a curved exterior cross line limiting the midfield. The Hindwings are also grey and have two or three crosslines. The females have a pale yellow suffusion on the wings and the front edges of their forewings are paler.[4] The males show large comb-like antennae.[5]

Young caterpillar of Lycia hirtaria

Variation female-ab. terroraria Krulik. is described as unicolorous grey, with weak traces of the lines on the veins of the forewing. Female -ab. fumaria Haw. is fuscous or smoky black, in extreme examples entirely unmarked.- diniensis Ob. differs little from the name-type, but the lines appear to be very strong and thick. Figured without description. Basses-Alpes.- ab. fasciata [Prout] is a beautiful modification of diniensis with the antemedian line double and with a blackish band extending from the median line of the forewing to the subterminal. Le Canadel. Var, France, - ab. flavescens [Prout] may be taken as the name of the more yellow-mixed form which is common in England, N. France, etc.- ab. congeneraria Hbn. has the antemedian and postmedian lines very distinctly double. Possibly forms a separate race in Algeria - istriana Galv. is a large, whitish-mixed form from Istria- hanoviensis Heymons is a small race, more densely scaled, the ground-colour more mixed with ochreous-yellow, the dark markings extended into strong suffusions.[6]

Adult caterpillar of Lycia hirtaria

The brindled beauty is nocturnal. The moths fly from March to the end of May, and the males are attracted to light.[3][5]

The egg is ellipsoid, micropylar and somewhat concave and granulated; the rest of the surface somewhat glossy, the granulation discernible on strong magnification.[6]

The caterpillar of the brindled beauty ranges from greyish-green or brown in colour purplish, with thread-like longitudinal black lines and with yellow marks near the segment incisions.[4][6]

The caterpillar is polyphagous, mainly feeding from late spring to early summer [5] on broad-leaved trees and deciduous shrubs (Betula, Quercus, Alnus, Fraxinus, Ulmus, Salix, Populus, Berberis, Ribes, Rosa, Rubus, Filipendula, Malus, Sorbus, Crataegus, Prunus, Tilia, Rhamnus, Vaccinium).[7] The pupa overwinters.

• Lepidoptera
• Moth
• Geometridae

• Carter, David - Butterflies and Moths (Dorling Kindersley Handbooks), Dorling Kindersley Ltd. London, 1992 ISBN 0-7513-2707-7.

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