Cilix glaucata

Cilix glaucata, the Chinese character, is a moth of the family Drepanidae. It was first described by the Italian physician and naturalist, Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in his 1763 Entomologia Carniolica.^[1] It is found in Europe, Asia Minor and North Africa.^[2]

Chinese character
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Drepanidae
Genus:	Cilix
Species:	C. glaucata
Binomial name
Cilix glaucata (Scopoli, 1763)
Synonyms
List Phalaena glaucata Scopoli, 1763 Attacus ruffa Linnaeus, 1767 Bombyces spinula Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775 Bombyx compressa Fabricius, [1777] Phalaena modesta Walch, 1779 Cilix glaucata var. aeruginata Turati, 1907 Cilix angelina Dannehl, 1925

Description

The wingspan is 18–22 mm. The moth flies from April to August depending on the location. Cilix glaucata lives on sunny and warm forest edges, slopes and hedges, on bushy dry grasslands and heaths, but also in parks.

• 
  ♂
• 
  △ ♂

The moth has porcelain-white wings, with a series of small grey spots along the outside edge of the front wing and the inner edge has a large dark brown stain, which turns yellow and grey towards the middle of the wing. Occasionally there are silvery scales. The wingtips are rounded and not curved. If they are sitting in their resting position, they imitate bird droppings. The antennae are only slightly combed.

On this Cilix glaucata moth's wing, the silvery scales may — by pareidolia — look a bit like the Chinese character 山 (radical 46), meaning "mountain".

The silvery scales at the middle of the wings are sometimes said to look like a small letter.^[3] Some variations may look like Chinese characters, hence the name.

Larva

The caterpillars become about 12 millimeters long and are dark brown. The thorax is clearly thickened and the end of the abdomen is extended to a narrow tip. The larvae feed on bramble (Rubus species), hawthorn (Crataegus species) and cherry (Prunus species).

Similar species

• Cilix hispanica Pérez De-Gregorio, Torruella, Miret, Casas & Figueras, 2002. Spain, Southern France, Corsica, Southern Italy, Algeria
• Cilix algirica Leraut, 2006. Morocco, Algeria, Portugal, presumably also in Spain
• Cilix asiatica Bang-Haas, 1907. Turkey to Iran