The spotted beauty is a Eurasian moth with yellow wings dotted in black; it isn't found in North America. In Europe it lives in wooded bogs, where its caterpillars feed mostly on bog bilberry. In Japan, outbreaks of its caterpillars on mountain azaleas have at times kept the shrubs from blooming.
Appearance
- Appearance
- Wingspan about 1.4–1.7 in (36–42 mm). The wings are yellow with scattered black spots.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Wooded bogs (Europe)
- Mountain azalea shrublands (Japan)
- Range
- Across northern Eurasia, from central and northern Europe east through Mongolia to Korea and Japan.
- Preferred conditions
- In Europe it favors bogs with open pine, spruce, and birch woods, where its food plants grow in shade.
Behavior
- Diet
- Caterpillars eat leaves of heath-family shrubs. In Europe that's mainly bog bilberry, with small cranberry and marsh Labrador tea also recorded. In East Asia they eat azaleas.
- Activity
- In Europe, adults rest on tree trunks and shrubs and can be quite active by day in hot weather. Caterpillars partly hide at the base of the plant during the day and are easier to find at night.
- Overwintering
- In Japan, it spends the winter inside the egg and hatches in spring.
Life cycle
- Breeding season
- In Europe, adults fly from June to September depending on location, mostly in June and July.
- Larva
- In Europe, caterpillars are full-grown mostly in May.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
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