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The geometer moths are moths belonging to the family Geometridae of the insect order Lepidoptera, the moths and butterflies. Their scientific name derives from the Ancient Greek {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (derivative form of {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} "the earth"), and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} "measure" in reference to the way their larvae, or inchworms, appear to measure the earth as they move along in a looping fashion.<ref name="bugguide.net">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Geometridae is a very large family, containing around 23,000 described species;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> over 1400 species from six subfamilies are indigenous to North America alone.<ref name="bugguide.net"/> A well-known member is the peppered moth, Biston betularia, which has been the subject of numerous studies in population genetics. Several other geometer moths are notorious pests.
CaterpillarsEdit
The name "Geometridae" ultimately derives from Latin {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} from Greek {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("geometer", "earth-measurer"). This refers to the means of locomotion of the larvae or caterpillars, which lack the full complement of prolegs seen in other caterpillars, with only two or three pairs at the posterior end instead of the usual five pairs. Equipped with appendages at both ends of the body, a caterpillar clasps with its front legs and draws up the hind end, then clasps with the hind end (prolegs) and reaches out for a new front attachment, creating the impression that it measures its journey. The caterpillars are accordingly called "loopers", "spanworms", or "inchworms" after their characteristic looping gait. The cabbage looper and soybean looper are not inchworms but caterpillars of a different family. In many species of geometer moths, the inchworms are about Template:Convert long. They tend to be green, grey, or brownish and hide from predators by fading into the background or resembling twigs. When disturbed, many inchworms stand erect and motionless on their prolegs, further increasing this resemblance. Some have humps or filaments, or cover themselves in plant material. They are gregarious and are generally smooth. Some eat lichen, flowers, or pollen, while some, such as the Hawaiian species of the genus Eupithecia, are carnivorous. Certain destructive inchworm species are referred to as "cankerworms".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
In 2019, the first geometrid caterpillar in Baltic amber was discovered by German scientists. Described under Eogeometer vadens, it measured about Template:Convert and was estimated to be 44 million years old, dating back to the Eocene epoch. It was described as the earliest evidence for the subfamily of Ennominae, particularly the tribe Boarmiini.<ref name="Fischer_al.2019">Template:Cite journal</ref>
- Looper.webm
Locomotion of a looper
- Geometridae-Dinakarr-10Jun11-DSC 0186.jpg
A geometrid caterpillar camouflaged as a broken twig
- Geometridae locomotion.jpg
Caterpillar locomotion
- Synchlora aerata caterpillar.jpg
Synchlora aerata caterpillar dressed with pieces of flowers as camouflage
- Geometrid Moths (Geometridae) caterpillar -2.jpg
Geometrid moth (Geometridae) "inchworm" caterpillar
- Geometrid Moths (Geometridae) caterpillar.jpg
Geometrid moth (Geometridae) "inchworm" caterpillar
AdultsEdit
Many geometrids have slender abdomens and broad wings which are usually held flat with the hindwings visible. As such, they appear rather butterfly-like, but in most respects they are typical moths. The majority fly at night. They possess a frenulum to link the wings, and the antennae of the males are often feathered. They tend to blend into the background, often with intricate, wavy patterns on their wings. In some species, females have reduced wings (e.g. winter moth and fall cankerworm).<ref name="bugguide.net"/> Most are of moderate size, about Template:Convert in wingspan, but a range of sizes occur, from Template:Convert, and a few (e.g., Dysphania species) reach an even larger size. They have distinctive paired tympanal organs at the base of the abdomen (these are absent in flightless females).Template:Cn
- Selenia tetralunaria MHNT ventre.jpg
Selenia tetralunaria species from Ennominae
- Unidentified Moth 0752.jpg
Scopula species
- Fall Cankerworm Moth - Alsophila pometaria, Leesylvania State Park, Woodbridge, Virginia.jpg
Alsophila pometaria, wingless adult female
SystematicsEdit
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The placement of the example species follows a 1990 systematic treatment; it may be outdated. Subfamilies are tentatively sorted in a phylogenetic sequence, from the most basal to the most advanced. Traditionally, the Archiearinae were held to be the most ancient of the geometer moth lineages, as their caterpillars have well-developed prolegs. However, it now seems that the Larentiinae are actually older, as indicated by their numerous plesiomorphies and DNA sequence data. They are either an extremely basal lineage of the Geometridae – together with the Sterrhinae – or might even be considered a separate family of Geometroidea. As regards the Archiearinae, some species that were traditionally placed therein actually seem to belong to other subfamilies; altogether it seems that in a few cases, the prolegs which were originally lost in the ancestral geometer moths re-evolved as an atavism.<ref name="Õunap">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Young">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Larentiinae – about 5,800 species, includes the pug moths, mostly temperate, might be a distinct family.<ref name="Õunap"/><ref name="Young"/>
Sterrhinae – about 2,800 species, mostly tropical, might belong to same family as the Larentiinae.<ref name="Õunap"/>
- Birch mocha, Cyclophora albipunctata
- False mocha, Cyclophora porata
- Maiden's blush, Cyclophora punctaria
- Riband wave, Idaea aversata
- Small fan-footed wave, Idaea biselata
- Single-dotted wave, Idaea dimidiata
- Small scallop, Idaea emarginata
- Idaea filicata
- Dwarf cream wave, Idaea fuscovenosa
- Rusty wave, Idaea inquinata
- Purple-bordered gold, Idaea muricata
- Bright wave, Idaea ochrata
- Least carpet, Idaea rusticata
- Small dusty wave, Idaea seriata
- Purple-barred yellow, Lythria cruentaria (formerly in Larentiinae)
- Vestal, Rhodometra sacraria
- Common pink-barred, Rhodostrophia vibicaria
- Middle lace border, Scopula decorata
- Cream wave, Scopula floslactata
- Small blood-vein, Scopula imitaria
- Lewes wave, Scopula immorata
- Lesser cream wave, Scopula immutata
- Mullein wave, Scopula marginepunctata
- Zachera moth, Chiasmia defixaria
- Blood-vein, Timandra comae
- Eastern blood-vein, Timandra griseata
Desmobathrinae – pantropical
Geometrinae – emerald moths, about 2,300 named species, most tropical
Archiearinae – twelve<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> species; holarctic, southern Andes and Tasmania, though the latter some seem to belong to the Ennominae,<ref name="Young"/> larvae have all the prolegs but most are reduced.
- Infant, Archiearis infans (Möschler, 1862)
- Scarce infant, Leucobrephos brephoides (Walker, 1857)
Oenochrominae – in some treatments used as a "wastebin taxon" for genera that are difficult to place in other groups
Alsophilinae – a few genera, defoliators of trees, might belong in the Ennominae, tribe Boarmiini<ref name="Young"/>
- March moth, Alsophila aescularia
- Fall cankerworm, Alsophila pometaria
Ennominae – about 9,700 species, including some defoliating pests, global distribution
- †Eogeometer vadens<ref name="Fischer_al.2019"/>
Geometridae genera incertae sedis include:
Fossil Geometridae taxa include:
- †Eogeometer Fischer, Michalski & Hausmann, 2019<ref name="Fischer_al.2019"/>
- †Hydriomena? protrita Cockerell, 1922 (Priabonian, Florissant Formation, Colorado)<ref name="Cockerell1922">Template:Cite journal</ref>
- †Geometridites Clark et al., 1971
ReferencesEdit
Further readingEdit
External linksEdit
- "Family Geometridae" at Insecta.pro
- Anacamptodes pergracilis, cypress looper on the University of Florida / Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Featured Creatures website
- Geometridae species in New Zealand Template:Webarchive
- Geometridae species in Portugal