Editing Blotched emerald

{{short description|Species of moth}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = (1667) Blotched Emerald (Comibaena bajularia) (4746927506).jpg
| display_parents = 3
| taxon = Comibaena bajularia
| authority = ([[Michael Denis|Denis]] & [[Ignaz Schiffermüller|Schiffermüller]], 1775)
| synonyms = *''Euchloris pustulata'' <small>(Hufnagel, 1767)</small>
}}
The '''blotched emerald''' (''Comibaena bajularia'') is a [[moth]] of the family [[Geometridae]]. The species was [[Species description|first described]] by [[Michael Denis]] and [[Ignaz Schiffermüller]] in 1775. It is found throughout Europe and the [[Near East]]. It has a scattered distribution in England and [[Wales]], but is absent from [[Scotland]] and Ireland.
In the southern [[Alps]] it rises up to 1000 metres.It is mainly found in oak forests.

==Adult==
The wings are green with brown and white chequered fringes and prominent buff and white blotches at the [[Glossary of entomology terms|tornus]]. The forewings are marked with two narrow, white [[fascia]]. The [[wingspan]] is 30–35&nbsp;mm. In the southern part of the British Isles it flies in June and July, where it may be common in some oakwoods. It flies at night and is attracted to light, the male more so than the female.
[[Image:Buckler W The larvæ of the British butterflies and moths PlateCXV.jpg|thumb|150px|Figs 3, 3a "clothed and unclothed"]]
<gallery mode=packed>
(MHNT) Comibaena bajularia Gubałówka Poland - Male dorsal.jpg|♂   
(MHNT) Comibaena bajularia Gubałówka Poland - Male ventral.jpg|♂ △
(MHNT) Comibaena bajularia - Gubałówka Poland - Female dorsal.jpg|♀   
(MHNT) Comibaena bajularia - Gubałówka Poland - Female ventral.jpg|♀ △  
</gallery>

==Larva==
The [[larva]]l food plant is [[oak]]. The insect overwinters as a larva. The body of the caterpillar larva is red brown, but it [[camouflage]]s itself by attaching a screen of oak leaf fragments to its specially hooked bristles.

After overwintering, the attached camouflage changes and consists of bud scales from the oak tree. [[Hugh Cott]] compared the larva's use of "concealment afforded by masks of adventitious material" to military camouflage, pointing out that the "device is, of course, essentially the same as one widely practised during [[World War I]] for the concealment, not of caterpillars, but of caterpillar-tractors, [gun] battery positions, observation posts and so forth."<ref>{{cite book | title=Adaptive Coloration in Animals | publisher=Oxford University Press | author=Cott, Hugh | authorlink=Hugh Cott | year=1940 | pages=359–360}}</ref> The larva spins silk over one side of each piece to be attached, and then hooks the silk onto its bristles to keep the camouflage in place.<ref>{{cite book | title=Moths | url=https://archive.org/details/moths00ford | publisher=Collins New Naturalist | author=Ford, E. B. | authorlink=E. B. Ford | year=1955 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/moths00ford/page/n132 91]}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
*[[Michael Chinery|Chinery, Michael]] ''Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe'' 1986 (reprinted 1991)
*[[Bernard Skinner (entomologist)|Skinner, Bernard]] ''[[The Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles]]'' 1984

{{Commons category|Comibaena bajularia}}
{{Wikispecies|Comibaena}}

== External links ==
*{{cite web |last=Kimber |first=Ian |url=https://www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/comibaena-bajularia |title=70.300 BF1667 Blotched Emerald ''Comibaena bajularia'' ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) |website=UKMoths |accessdate=29 June 2019}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225806/http://www.faunaeur.org/full_results.php?id=445408 ''Fauna Europaea'']
*[http://www.lepiforum.de/lepiwiki.pl?Comibaena_Bajularia ''Lepiforum e.V.'']
*[https://www.biolib.cz/en/taxonimage/id135859/?taxonid=52302 ''BioLib.cz''. Photograph of camouflaged larva]

{{Taxonbar |from=Q1892839}}

[[Category:Geometrinae]]
[[Category:Moths described in 1775]]
[[Category:Moths of Europe]]
[[Category:Moths of Asia]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Michael Denis]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Ignaz Schiffermüller]]