Blood-vein

The blood-vein (Timandra comae) is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Anton Schmidt in 1931.

Not to be confused with a blood vessel known as a vein.

Blood-vein
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Geometridae
Genus: Timandra
Species:
T. comae
Binomial name
Timandra comae
Schmidt, 1931

Distribution

It has a scattered distribution in western and central Europe north of the Alps. In the British Isles the distribution is patchy outside southern England and Wales. In far eastern Europe – east of a line running roughly from Finland through Estonia – it is replaced by its sister species Timandra griseata. The species were split in 1931, only to be subsequently re-merged by most authors. But since 1994, new research has come out in favour of treating them as distinct species.[1]

Description
Caterpillar

The wings are cream coloured with bold red or purple fascia forming a diagonal stripe across forewings and hindwings. All wings are fringed with the same colour. The tornus of the hindwing is sharply angled giving a distinctive shape. The wingspan is 30–35 mm.

Biology

Two broods are produced each year with the adults flying in May and June and again in August and September[lower-alpha 1]. It flies at night and is attracted to light.

The larva is grey brown with darker spots on the back. In the UK, it feeds on the leaves of a variety of plants including dock, knotgrass, sorrel and various species of Atriplex. It overwinters as a larva.

Notes
  1. The flight season refers to the British Isles. This varies in other parts of the range.

References
  1. Õunap et al. (2005)

Bibliography


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