| Small emperor moth | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Male | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Saturniidae |
| Genus: | Saturnia |
| Species: | S. pavonia |
| Binomial name | |
| Saturnia pavonia | |
| Synonyms | |
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Saturnia pavonia, thesmall emperor moth, is amoth of the familySaturniidae. It was first described byCarl Linnaeus in his 175810th edition ofSystema Naturae. Sometimes, theincorrect genus namePavonia is still used for this species. This moth occurs throughout thePalearctic region and is the only member of its family to be found in theBritish Isles, where it is usually called simply theemperor moth.
The male has awingspan of about 60 mm (2.4 in) with brown and white forewings marked with red and orangefascia and a bold black and orangeeyespot. The hindwings are orange with a similar eyespot. The female is larger with a wingspan of about 80 mm (3.1 in), but less brightly coloured than the male, being generally grey and white but has all wings marked with eyespots similar to the male.
The male flies rapidly during the day from mid-April to late June looking for the rather sluggish females, which usually only fly at night. The species inhabits a range of habitats but is most often associated withheathland andmoorland.
Thecaterpillar is black and orange at first, later becoming green with black rings and yellow and red spots. The commonest foodplant isheather but the species has also been recorded feeding on a huge range of other plants (see list below). The species overwinters as apupa within a fibrouscocoon.
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S. pavonia larvae have been recorded feeding onAlchemilla,Alnus,Arbutus,Betula,Calluna,Cornus,Crataegus,Erica,Fagus,Filipendula,Fragaria,Fraxinus,Hippophae,Humulus,Juglans,Lythrum,Malus,Myrica gale,Pistacia,Populus,Potentilla,Prunus,Pyrus,Quercus,Rhamnus,Rosa,Rubus,Rumex,Salix,Sambucus,Schinus,[citation needed]Sorbus,Spiraea,Ulmus,Vaccinium.
