Willow beauty

Willow beauty
Adult male from Dresden (Germany)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Geometridae
Genus: Peribatodes
Species:
P. rhomboidaria
Binomial name
Peribatodes rhomboidaria
Synonyms

Numerous, see text

The willow beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria) is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is a common species of Europe and adjacent regions (Near East and the Maghreb). While it is found widely throughout Scandinavian countries, which have a maritime climate, it is absent from parts of the former USSR which are at the same latitude but have a more continental climate.[1]

The head of a male Peribatodes rhomboidaria

Up to four subspecies are listed by some authors, while others consider the willow beauty a monotypic species or accept only rhomboidaria and sublutearia as distinct:[2]

  • Peribatodes rhomboidaria corsicaria (Schawerda 1931)
  • Peribatodes rhomboidaria defloraria (Dannehl 1928)
  • Peribatodes rhomboidaria rhomboidaria (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775)
  • Peribatodes rhomboidaria sublutearia (Zerny 1927)

Under its junior synonym Geometra rhomboidaria, the willow beauty is the type species of its genus Peribatodes. This was initially proposed as a subgenus of Boarmia but eventually elevated to full genus rank.[3]

  1. ^ Skinner (1984), FE (2009)
  2. ^ FE (2009)
  3. ^ Pitkin & Jenkins (2004)