Orange underwing

Archiearis parthenias

"Archiearis parthenias", the orange underwing, is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1761 and can be found in Europe, Russia and Japan.
Archiearis parthenias (EN: Orange underwing, DE: Großes Jungfernkind) This moth is a “classic” herald of early Spring in Europe, since it is one of the first butterflies that can be seen on a sunny day around the beginnings of March, at times even end of February, depending on location and weather conditions. Although Geometrid moths are mostly nocturnal, the Orange underwing is active during daytime, often zooming up high among the treetops of birch trees (on which their larvae feed) and other trees with early flowers. This behaviour - the moths preferring sunlit treetops - made it difficult for us to actually see one long enough close up to snap a picture. In fact, during the past years it has become a sort of joke between my partner and me - hey, it's early Spring again and a sunny day, shall we go for a walk in this or that patch of forest and NOT find any "Jungerfernkinder"? Only, this year we finally got lucky. Archiearis parthenias,Deutschland,Falter,Geotagged,Germany,München,Orange underwing,Schmetterling,Tiere,Winter,butterfly,mariposa

Appearance

The wingspan is about 30–40 mm. The moths fly from February to May depending on the location.

Food

The larvae feed first on the catkins and then on the leaves of birch.

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderLepidoptera
FamilyGeometridae
GenusArchiearis
SpeciesA. parthenias
Photographed in
Germany