#biston

[wild-e-eep]

I believe this is the peppered moth - Biston betularia - which many will remember from biology classes, where it was held up as an example of evolution in action from the all-black phase which became prevalent in sooty, industrial parts of britain.

It normally lies with its wings flat against a black and white, textured surface where it can be very hard to spot. The unusual pose here might indicate that this is a newly hatched moth that is still inflating and hardening its wings.

[great-and-small]

It’s not a phase mom it’s industrial melanism

[libraryofmoths]

Moth of the Week

Peppered Moth

Biston betularia

The peppered moth is a part of the family geometridae. It was first described in 1758 by Charles Linnaeus. This moth gains its name from its speckled coloration, which has been studied as an example of natural selection and population evolution.

Description This species has a short body with narrow forewings. The body and wings are the same white base peppered with black dots and irregular black lines. This speckled pattern may vary with some moths having very few spots and others having so many that they look as if they are black with white spots as opposed to white with black. In rare cases, the black on the wings and body is replaced with gray or brown and in even rarer cases the spots are a combination of brown and black/gray. These spots help the moth camouflage against lichen on trees.

The evolution of this moth had been studied extensively during the last two hundred years, which created the term “industrial melanism.” During the Industrial Revolution, air pollution killed off lichen and covered trees in soot. This caused moths with a black spots on white base (typica) coloration to lose their camouflage and die off due to predators. This caused a spike in population for moths with a darker coloration (carbonaria) because they had the camouflage advantage. Once environmental conditions improved, the lighter colored moths once again became the dominant coloration.

The male’s antennae are bipectinate, meaning it has two rows of rami going down either side of a singular flagellum.

Wingspan Range: 45 - 62 mm (≈1.77 - 2.44 in)

Diet and Habitat The caterpillar of this moth eats many trees, shrubs, and small plants such as Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), Downy (Betula pubescens) and Silver Birch (Betula pendula), limes, sallows, poplars, oaks, Sweet Chestnut (Castanae sativa), Beech (Fagus sylvatica), Bramble (Rubus fruiticosus), Broom (Cytisus scoparius), Black Currant (Ribes nigrum) and Hop (Humulus lupulus).

They have a wide range, being found in China (Heilongjiang, Jilin, Inner Mongolia, Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Fujian, Sichuan, Yunnan, Tibet), Russia, Mongolia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Europe and North America. They prefer habitats of woodland, scrub, hedgerows, parks and gardens.

Mating Depending on its location, this moth can have one or two generations per year. In Great Britain and Ireland, the peppered moth has one generation per year, whilst in south-eastern North America it has two generations per year. They emerge from the pupea in late May to August.

The females attract males with pheromones, which are carried by the wind. Males follow the concentration gradient to find the female. The male guards the female from other males until she lays the eggs. The female lays about 2,000 pale-green ovoid eggs about 1 mm in length into crevices in bark with her ovipositor.

Predators This species is a night-flying moth, making the vulnerable to bats. The males in particular fly every night to search for a female while females fly only the first night.

To protect themselves from birds during the day, this species rests on lichen covered trees to camouflage themselves.

The day time resting positions of this moth have been recorded and studied. This study shows that the peppered moth prefers resting spots that are covered such as below where the trunk and a branch meet, the underside of branches, and leafy twigs.

Additionally, the study found peppered moths with a lighter coloration (typica) blend in better against crustose lichens rather than foliose lichens because birds can see ultraviolet light. The peppered moth reflects UV light while crustose lichens don’t, making them easier to pick out.

Fun Fact The caterpillars of the peppered moth resemble things in both color and size. An experiment published in 2019 done on the caterpillars of the peppered moth showed that the larva (even when blindfolded) could sense the color of the tree they live on and change their body color to match and/or would move to a different twig that was closest in color to their own body.

(Source: Wikipedia, Butterfly Conservation, Max Planck Institute)

[quentinfiletmignon]

[moths-daily]

Can you do the peppered moth?

Moth Of The Day #32

Peppered Moth

Biston betularia

From the geometridae family. They have a wingspan of 45-62 mm. They tend to inhabit woodland, scrub, hedgerows, parks and gardens. This moth can be found throughout several countries in Asia and Europe, as well as North America. This moth has a very notable evolution that allows it to blend in with certain tree bark and hide from predators.

[paledoptera]

draw a moth every day challenge

i may be getting sick (or just horrifically tired) so here's two kinda shitty moths that my girlfriend had to remind me to draw :)

(daily moth doodle 49 and 50/366)

[elmartillosinmetre]

Mi crítica del concierto de Proxima Centauri esta noche en el Espacio Turina.

[ryoukio]

I love that Jay's accent when speaking primordial is barely comprehensible.

[becausekittensareinvolved]

Jake DeBrusk good at hockey!!!

[stpauldevarces2026]

Quel nom donner au Parc du Musée Champollion de Vif ? Le parc est actuellement terriblement sous-valorisé. Pour désenclaver la culture, les animations dans ce parc y contribueront grandement. D'où l'actuel débat sur son nom. La logique voudrait que le nom du parc soit associé à des personnes qui ont fortement contribué à la création de ce Musée. Deux noms se détachent rapidement : Daniel Biston et Gérard Cardin. Deux noms proposés d'ailleurs par

l'ancien Conseiller Général de ce canton, Denis Bonzy.

05/02/2023

[the-dye-stained-socialite]

trick or treat...........................................

*stumbles and drops a bunch of moths*

oh whoops, looks like i dropped the black witch moth (Ascalapha odorata), the light and dark peppered moths (Biston betularia betularia) (the second highest honor i can bestow), the cinnabar moth (Tyria jacobaeae) and the oleander hawk-moth (Daphnis nerii)

anyways!!!!! actual answer: the highest honor i can bestow upon someone:

the domesticated silk moth (bombyx mori)!!!!! this is where we get most of our silk from! they cannot fly on their own as a result of domestication. our lovely silks and velvets come from these wonderful lads ^^ little fabric-makers <3

[thenyandrawsnstuff]

Day 17 - DND alignment chart

Christmas came early today

yeah so here’s the DnD alignment chart with my OCs, give or take a few characters because I added artificer fill the whole chart and I also couldn’t include biston because I didn’t want to demote any of the neutral ones to impure because I wanted to be accurate, I’m so sorry its bistover 😔

Can I just say I actually love alignment chart memes like this?? well ngl it’s pretty tedious to edit in characters but they’re just fun??.? To have??? Plus they add characterisation whilst being funny because “they would do that”

Oh also if you’re curious about the reasoning behind the placements, DO BE I’d die at a chance to talk about my sillies more /pos

[a-modernmajorgeneral]

It has been said of Gustave Moreau's work that it was an extension of Romantic art. And yet he was not a painter of drama so much as of the image: that of a moral confrontation experienced on a personal level – for example, in the Rouen painting, the sense of distance from the murder that has been set in motion. In addition, the painter uses a universal language – that of the great Renaissance masters, particularly Michelangelo and Leonardo – through myths that are no less universal.  

Rouen's Diomedes devoured by his horses is a perfect example of this approach, even if – it has to be admitted here – it was not Moreau's favourite painting. He wrote to the curator of the Musée de Rouen, ‘I would have wished, sir, to have been able to respond to your invitation in a more satisfactory manner, by sending you a larger and more accomplished picture (…)’. His subject here is based on one of the Twelve Labours of Hercules, where the Greek hero sent the horses of Diomedes to devour the king himself, who had the regrettable habit of feeding them on human flesh. The horses are inspired by the art of da Vinci and the antique hero by the drawings of Michelangelo, while the setting is taken directly from drawings by the great Italian master Piranesi.

The result is an astonishing work that could even be described as absurd, in that its meaning may easily elude the viewer. This is because the painter seems to illustrate highly personal ideas, straight out of his dreams, with a language intended to be universal. Moreau sought both a magic drawn from his own visions and a ‘purely visual art’ which, in his words, ‘would be the most penetrating, the most profound, the most sublime expression of the visual idea.’

In other words, Moreau's art is a kind of mannerism in Romantic art that is perhaps too attached to form — Degas spoke of ‘these gods wearing bracelets and watches’ — but in this way creates symbols. But when people tried to link his art with Symbolism in literature, Moreau objected, finding this view ‘stupid and unjust’. The fact remains that his art opened up new paths, because it seemed like a possible breakaway, reconciling the expression of highly personal ideas with a conceptual language. This new path was to inspire Abstract art: a direction that Moreau in fact took at the end of his life.

---

DIOMEDES was a barbaric king of the Bistonian tribe of Thrake who fed his mares on a diet of human flesh. Herakles was sent to fetch these horses as the eighth of his twelve Labours. He captured the beasts alive and left them in the care of his young squire Abderos while he went off to deal with King Diomedes. He returned to discover the boy had been devoured by the mares and in anger fed them their master's corpse which stilled their unnatural appetites.

A variation of this myth can be found in the story of Pyraikhmes of Euboia.

Title: Diomedes Being Eaten by his Horses

Artist: Gustave Moreau

Date: 1865

Style: Symbolism

Genre: Mythological Painting

[kah-way-loh]

My Mothman Build-a-Bear is here!!!! His name is Biston (a genus of moths that includes the peppered moth) and he's pumpkin spice scented :]

Edit: I'm actually gonna change his name 😅 I thought I'd grow to like it but I haven't and it's too close to "bison" for my comfort

[Image description: a slightly unkempt black Mothman Build-a-Bear plush, in a gray hoodie and joggers, sitting on a chair. End ID.]

[miyrumiyru]

Dusk's delightful fairy☺

Night's nightmare fairy ☹

노랑띠알락가지나방 (Biston panterinaria)

Clouded magpie (Abraxas sylvata)

[uncharismatic-fauna]

Uncharismatic Fact of the Day

Careful not to sneeze on the Peppered moth! This species gets its name from its distinctive speckles-- black spots on a white background. The pattern helps it blend in with the trees it rests on, and varies greatly according to the average color of trees in a population's territory. In fact, the distinct differences have often been used as an example of natural selection and evolution! At the turn of the century, the light-colored trees this species used became blackened by soot, and so naturalists were able to observe the population's colouring shift over time to reflect their new surroundings.

(Images: Two peppered moths (Biston betularia) one light morph and one dark morph-- against a light and dark tree background by John S. Hayward)

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