Galapagos Species Database
The Galapagos Species Database shares the information about the species from our Natural History Collections.
Semiothisa cerussata
Adults: Antennae of males lengthily fasciculate; those of females simple, with each segment bearing posterior pair of lateral setae. Palpi extend beyond front. Hind tibia of male swollen and having hair pencil; those of female simple. Forewings of male with outer margin gently rounded, and females having very slight concave section below apex; hind wings of both sexes weakly extended at vein M3. Upper surface of wings gray; male uniform in color, getting darker just before t. p. line, and having latter made up of elongate grayish white cellular spots. Female with much more contrastingly marked forewings than male, with dark, well-defined t. a. and t. p. lines; median line indicated by large black spots on costa and inner margin; median area much paler than outer area, latter having, in some specimens, a large black spot. Hind wings of both sexes gray, becoming darker distally (Ringe,1973).
His species is less commonly represented in collections than is cruciata. As far as can be told from the limited material available, sexual dimorphism in the pattern of the wings is more strongly developed in the present species than in the preceding one (Ringe,1973).
Domain
Eukaryota
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Arthropoda
Class
Insecta
Order
Lepidoptera
Superfamily
Geometroidea
Family
Geometridae
Genus
Semiothisa
Species
cerussata
Taxon category: Accepted
Origin: Endemic
- Hayes, A.H. (1975) The larger moths of the Galápagos Islands (Geometroidea: Sphingoidea & Noctuoidea). Proc. Calif. Acad. Sc., 4th series, 40(7): 145-208.
- Herbulot, C. (1970) Lepidopteres Geometridae des îles Galápagos recueillis par M. et Mme. N. Leleup. Lambillionea 69(7-12): 17-25.
- Landry, B. Rindge, F.H. (1995) Additions to the Geometridae (Lepidoptera) of the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador, including a new species of Eupithecia. American Museum Novitates 3118: 1-10.
- Rindge, F.H. (1973) The Geometridae (Lepidoptera) of the Galapagos Islands. American Museum Novitates 2510: 1-31.
- Roque-Albelo, L. (2006) Diversity and ecology of the Lepidoptera in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador Cardiff University (United Kingdom)
- Roque-Albelo, L. (2003) Population Decline of Galapagos endemic Lepidoptera on Volcán Alcedo (Isabela Island, Galapagos Islands, Ecuador): An effect of the introduction of the cottony cushion scale? Bulletin de L'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique 73: 177-180.
- Roque-Albelo, L. Landry, B. (2016) CDF Checklist of Galapagos Butterflies and Moths Charles Darwin Research Station, Puerto Ayora, Ecuador, 32 pp.
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This page should be cited as follows:
"Galapagos Species Database, Semiothisa cerussata", dataZone. Charles Darwin Foundation, https://datazone.darwinfoundation.org/en/checklist/?species=7332. Accessed 31 October 2026.