Eupithecia innotata

Eupithecia innotata, the angle-barred pug, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1767.^[1] It ranges from Spain in the west to western Siberia and Central Asia in the east.^[2]

Eupithecia innotata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Geometridae
Genus:	Eupithecia
Species:	E. innotata
Binomial name
Eupithecia innotata (Hufnagel, 1767)[1]
Synonyms
Phalaena innotata Hufnagel, 1767 Eupithecia alexandriana Vardikjan, 1972 Phalaena innotata Thunberg, 1788 Eupithecia sergiana Vardikjan, 1972 Eupithecia suspectata Dietze, 1871 Larentia tamarisciata Freyer, 1836 Eupithecia uliata Staudinger, 1897 Eupithecia ulicada Dietze, 1910 Eupithecia innotata f. grisescens Petersen, 1909 Eupithecia petersenaria Wnukowsky, 1929

There are three forms found in the British Isles:

• E. innotata sensu stricto (angle-barred pug) is found only on the east and south-east coasts
• f. fraxinata (ash pug) is widely distributed
• rare f. tamarisciata (tamarisk pug)

The forewings are generally dark brown or grey with few distinguishing marks apart from a small white tornal spot which may not be present on the frequent melanic forms. They are crossed by darker oblique lines, which are angled on the front margin; the submarginal line is white and irregular, especially at each end.The wingspan is 18–24 mm.^{[3][4] [5]}

Two broods are produced each year with the adults flying in May and June and again in August. Moths of the spring brood are usually darker in colour than the later specimens.

Figs 8,8a,8b,8c Eupithecia innotata f. fraxinata larvae after final moult

The larva is bright yellow-brown with brown and greenish markings, most strikingly a variety of large, brown-green spots along the back. It has numerous, small white warts all over the body.

The caterpillars of the three races have different food plants:

• f. fraxinata feeding on ash
• E. innotata sensu stricto feeding on sea-buckthorn
• f. tamarisciata is found on the alien food plant tamarisk

The species overwinters as a pupa.