Lime-speck Pug

Eupithecia centaureata · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Geometridae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Lime-speck Pug
Photo: Tina Ellegaard Poulsen, CC BY

The lime-speck pug is a small moth with a wingspan of about two centimetres (20 to 24 mm). Its wings are mostly white with a single black spot on the front edge of each forewing, though some forms have a smoky tint or weaker markings. It lives across the Palearctic region, including Europe, parts of Asia, the Near East and North Africa.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

The moth is easy to spot because its wings are largely white with a distinct black blotch on the leading edge of the forewing. A darker form called ab. obscura has a smoky overall colour on both wings. Another variant, ab. centralisata, shows much fainter markings, sometimes almost none except for a central spot.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

Its wingspan ranges from 20 to 24 mm (about 2 cm).

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

Caterpillars are usually green or yellow and may have red markings. The larvae feed on the flowers of many different plants.

Source: Wikipedia

Life cycle

Adults appear in summer and autumn, often with two generations per year. The species spends the winter as a pupa.

Source: Wikipedia

When you see it

Moths fly at night, are attracted to light and to nectar-rich flowers.

Source: Wikipedia

Lookalikes

The smoky-coloured ab. obscura form can be confused with similar pale moths. The ab. centralisata form has very faint markings, making identification harder.

Source: Wikipedia

Same family (Geometridae)

Willow BeautyWillow BeautyPeribatodes rhomboidariaPale BeautyPale BeautyCampaea perlataDamages trees, gardens or cropsLarge Lace-border MothLarge Lace-border MothScopula limboundataDamages trees, gardens or cropsRiband WaveRiband WaveIdaea aversataYellow Shell MothYellow Shell MothCamptogramma bilineataLarge Maple Spanworm MothLarge Maple Spanworm MothProchoerodes lineolaDamages trees, gardens or crops

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lime-speck_pug

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.

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