Blood-vein

Taxobox
name = Blood-vein


image_width = 240px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Lepidoptera
familia = Geometridae
genus = "Timandra"
species = "T. comae"
binomial = "Timandra comae"
binomial_authority = (Schmidt, 1931)The Blood-vein, ("Timandra comae") is a moth of the family Geometridae. It has a scattered distribution in Westenr and Central Europe north of the Alps. In the British Isles the distribution is patchy outside southern England and Wales. In far eastern Europe – east opf a line running roughly from Finland through Estonia –, it is replaced by its sister species "Timandra griseata". The species were split in 1931, only to be subsequently re-merged by most authors. But since 1994, new research has come out in favor of treating them as distinct species.

The wings are cream-coloured with bold red or purple fascia forming a diagonal stripe across forewings and hindwings. All wings are fringed with the same colour. The tornus of the hindwing is sharply angled giving a distinctive shape. The wingspan is 30-35 mm. Two broods are produced each year with the adults flying in May and June and again in August and September ref|flight_season. It flies at night and is attracted to light.

The larva is grey-brown with darker spots on the back. In the UK, it feeds on the leaves of a variety of plants including dock, knotgrass, sorrel and various species of "Atriplex". It overwinters as a larva.

# "The flight season refers to the British Isles. This varies in other parts of the range."

References

Chinery, Michael "Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain and Western Europe" 1986 (Reprinted 1991)

Skinner, Bernard "Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles" 1984