2021 April 28 morning

 

   Gordon Usipiuk sends a photograph of a colour variety of Coryphista meadii from  Colwood, near the east side of Havenwood Park, on 27 April.

 

Coryphista meadii (Lep.: Geometridae)  Gordon Usipiuk

 

   Regular viewers of this site may have noted that from time to time we have had great difficulty distinguishing between this species and Triphosa haesitata, and will wonder why, since Gordon’s moth is very distinct and looks nothing at all like T. haesitata.  C. meadii has several very distinct colour varieties, and it is only one of these varieties (a very common one) that closely resembles T. haesitata.  Notice that the fourth tooth on the outer margin of the hindwing is much smaller that the other teeth – a feature that is useful  when we are struggling to distinguish between the two species.  The larval foodplant of Coryphista meadii  is Mahonia.