Chiasmia clathrata (Linnaeus, 1758) Species
Last modified: Oct. 11, 2023, 7:17 p.m.
A common species throughout Belgium.
Details
- Classification
- Family: Geometridae > Subfamily: Ennominae > Tribus: Macariini > Genus: Chiasmia > Species: Chiasmia clathrata
- Vernacular names
- Klaverspanner (NL), Latticed Heath (EN), Le Réseau, La Géomètre à barreaux (FR), Klee-Gitterspanner (DE)
- First mention in Belgium
- De Sélys-Longchamps E. 1844. Énumération des insectes Lépidoptères de la Belgique. — Mémoires de la Société royale des Sciences de Liége 2: 1–35. On page 18 (as Stenia clathraria). view page
- Status
-
Native
Distribution
Imago
Wingspan: 20–25 mm.
Museum specimens
Specimens in nature
Caterpillar
The caterpillar has two colour forms: a greenish one and a dark grey-brown one. The white sideline is characteristic because it continues till the head. Between all segments a rather narrow greenish-yellow transverse band (not in the dark form). Head capsule green to dark green, black in the dark form.
Bionomics
The species hibernates in the pupal stage. The dark brown, sometimes black pupa is constructed underground.
The adults are active during the day but also come to light. Their flight starts in the morning and the moths are still active in the late sunset hours.
Flight periods
The adults fly in two generations a year, difficult to separate from late April till well in October.
Observed on
- Host plant (species):
- Medicago sativa
- Host plant (genera):
- Trifolium
The larva lives on various species of Trifolium or on Medicago sativa.
Habitat
Dry and wet meadows in which the larval food plants grow, forest edges, bushland.
