Kingdom Animalia Subphylum Hexapoda Order Lepidoptera Scientific name Selenia lunularia | Phylum Arthropoda Class Insecta Family Geometridae Rank Species | |
 | ||
Similar Selenia, Selenia dentaria, Purple thorn, Biston strataria, Butterflies and moths | ||
Selenia lunularia, the lunar thorn, is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is found in Europe except Iberia and Greece; also in Asia Minor, Armenia, Siberia Issyk-Kul.
The wingspan is 38–44 mm. The length of the forewings is 16–22 mm. Similar to Selenia dentaria but "Antemedian lines of forewing strongly curved, postmedian almost straight, oblique outwards, median area very much wider posteriorly than anteriorly, wholly or in part dark-shaded.- ab. sublunaria Steph. is much darker and more purple, almost exactly the colour of some tetralunaria - delunaria Hhn. the 2nd generation, is on an average rather smaller and with less irroration, but differs less from the 1st brood than in the other [related] species.
The moth flies in two generation from mid-May to mid-August [1].
The caterpillars feed on various deciduous trees, such as birch and oak.