The Scarlet Tiger Moth (Callimorpha dominula, formerly Panaxia dominula) is a colorful moth of Europe, Turkey, Transcaucasus, northern Iran. It belongs to the tiger moth family, Arctiidae.
The caterpillars feed mostly on comfrey (Symphytum officinale). The imagines fly by day.
It can occur in rare colour forms, one with yellow hindwings and body and one with extended black on hindwings.
The three morphs occurring in the population at the Cothill reserve in Oxfordshire, Britain, have been the subject of considerable genetic study (McNamara 1998), including research by E.B. Ford, R.A. Fisher and Denis Owen.
McNamara (1998) describes how amateurs can rear this species.
Read more about Scarlet Tiger Moth: Subspecies, Gallery
Famous quotes containing the words scarlet, tiger and/or moth:
“Once they came on a maple in a glade,
Standing alone with smooth arms lifted up,
And every leaf of foliage she’d worn
Laid scarlet and pale pink about her feet.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“When a man wants to murder a tiger he calls it sport; when a tiger wants to murder him he calls it ferocity.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“I teazed him with fanciful apprehensions of unhappiness. A moth having fluttered round the candle, and burnt itself, he laid hold of this little incident to admonish me; saying, with a sly look, and in a solemn but quiet tone, “That creature was its own tormentor, and I believe its name was BOSWELL.””
—James Boswell (1740–1795)