Stats

Lifespan

A few weeks

Size

Small

Diet

Herbivore

Activity

Nocturnal

Social

Solitary

Biome

Temperate forest

Range

North America

Movement

Flight

Breeding

Egg-laying

Defense

Camouflage

Status

Common

About

A small geometer moth with pale gray-brown wings crossed by a sharply angled dark line, native to North America and now also established in Europe and the Atlantic islands. Its caterpillars are inchworms that feed on knotweed and other Polygonum plants.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   egg

   A tiny ribbed egg laid on the underside of a host-plant leaf, hatching within days.
2. 2.
   caterpillar

   A voracious caterpillar feeds and molts through several instars, growing rapidly.
3. 3.
   cocoon

   A silk cocoon spun in leaf litter or soil while the body remodels into a winged adult.
4. 4.
   moth

   A winged adult with feathery antennae and scaled wings, most active after dark.

Learn more

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Lepidoptera

Family

Geometridae

Genus

Costaconvexa

Species

Costaconvexa centrostrigaria