Xanthorhoe designata

Xanthorhoe designata, the flame carpet, is a moth of the genus Xanthorhoe in the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Johann Siegfried Hufnagel in 1767.

Flame carpet
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Geometridae
Genus:	Xanthorhoe
Species:	X. designata
Binomial name
Xanthorhoe designata (Hufnagel, 1767)

Distribution

It is found in Europe, Asiatic Russia and Japan.

Description

"Coloured nearly as in munitata but the median band is light red and with a conspicuous black bar at its proximal edge and usually with the distal edge also — at least in its anterior part, conspicuously black. Under surface more weakly marked. - ab. coarctata ab. nov. [Prout] has the median band greatly narrowed, usually very dark, about as in the corresponding aberration of ferrugata. - islandicaria Stgr. has the ground-colour more weakly marked, often whiter, the median band also pale in its centre but commonly with the black edgings widened. Iceland."^[1] The larva is relatively powerful, naked except for a few short bristles and brownish with a bright lateral stripe.

Fig 7 larvae after final moult

Biology

The moth flies from the beginning of April to the end of September.

It is found in meadows, damp woodland, hedgerows and suburban gardens.

The larvae feed on species of Brassicaceae. Xanthorhoe designata overwinters as a pupa.