| Mottled Beauty (Alcis repandata (Linnaeus, 1758)) |
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Scientific name: Alcis repandata (Linnaeus, 1758) Common name: Mottled Beauty French name: Boarmie recourbée Order: Lepidoptera Suborder: Heterocera Family: Geometridae Subfamily: Ennominae Wingspan: 32-44 mm. Biotope: Various habitats, forests, parks, gardens, and also in urban habitats. Geographic area: Europe, Turkey, Asia Minor. Flight time: June to August. Number of generations : 1 Caterpillar: Grey to yellowish grey or blackish grey with black dots on each segment. There can be some black dorsal markings on the middle segments. Host plant: Caterpillars feed on the bark of many tree species and on many low growing plants, in particular Brambles (Rubus sp). |
The Mottled Beauty is a variable colour from more or less dark grey to buff. There are also melanistic forms. The fore wings are crossed by three dark brown lines. The third one draws two large curves towards the submarginal area. The area delimited by the first and third lines is sometimes filled with a very dark brown to black colour. The submarginal area bears a white serrated line, bordered by brown on each side. This line is curved and get close to the third dark line near the middle of the wing. The hind wings are often paler. They show more or less the same lines that on the fore wings and in particular the white serrated line, bordered with brown, in the submarginal area. The fringes are bordered by a thin black line. Males' antennae are pectinate, females' ones are thread like. The Mottled Beauty over winters as a caterpillar. |
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This Mottled Beauty has been attracted to light into the house. The curtain is making a nice background for the picture! You can better see this on the non-reduced picture, the antennae are pectinate. So this one is a male. |
André Bon May 2017