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Mila'sExotic Plants & CuriositiesA living collection by Luminary OdditiesLuminary Oddities · Natural history & art
Phlogophora meticulosa
Lepidoptera / Noctuidae
Phlogophora meticulosa folds its angular, olive-and-pink wings into the outline of a withered leaf. This migratory European moth occupies gardens, woodland edges and coastal habitats, and its caterpillars vary from bright green to dark brown.
Read the species account
Angular olive, brown and pink wing fields fold lengthways into a withered-leaf outline. [2]
The corrugated wings do not lie in a single flat plane. [1]
The moth occurs across most of Europe and throughout Britain and Ireland, where it is more frequent in the south. Parks, gardens, woodland edges and coastal areas are characteristic habitats. [1]
Britain has at least two principal annual flight periods, with occasional adults in other months. [2]
Larvae range from bright green to dark brown. Food plant affects early-instar colour, while later coloration involves several genetic loci. [1]
Caterpillars feed on a broad range of herbaceous plants. [2]
Angle shades migrate, and arrivals can produce large concentrations at coastal localities in Britain. [2]
The Wytham Woods female’s 539-megabase assembly placed most sequence into 31 chromosome-scale scaffolds, including Z; other scaffolds were compatible with W. [1]
British monitoring summarised in the genome account found both flight-period peaks approximately three weeks earlier over the preceding 30 years. [1]
Keep the enclosure closed and display it in indirect light, away from heat and damp conditions. Handle the frame by its edges and clean only its exterior according to the maker’s instructions.
Boyes and Holland; Wellcome Open Research 7:89 (2022) · Accessed 2026-10-13
Ian Kimber, UKMoths · Accessed 2026-10-13
Sources checked 2026-10-13. Illustrations · Luminary Oddities.
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