Brimstone Moth Opisthograptis luteolata

Photo of Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata)

(c) Julien Fougeroux, some rights reserved (CC BY)

OrderButterflies and Moths (Lepidoptera)
FamilyGeometer Moths (Geometridae)
GenusOpisthograptis (Opisthograptis)

Here's a moth with an identity crisis: the common name causes confusion with a butterfly of the same name (Gonepteryx rhamni). To be clear, this is emphatically a moth of the family Geometridae, first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. The mix-up is so common that the need to distinguish them has become part of this species' popular identity.

Think you can identify this one in the wild?

Play Now