Bug FAQDark Marbled Carpet
Dysstroma citrata · Order: Lepidoptera · Family: Geometridae
Also called: Northern Marbled Carpet, Dark Marbled Carpet Moth
The dark marbled carpet moth has a 25 to 32 mm wingspan and very variable forewing colours, often with a distinctive protruding post-medial line. It lives in mountainous and wet habitats across Europe, much of temperate Asia, and from Alaska to California in North America, with reports also from India.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
The forewings show a very variable ground colour, whitish, grey, black or brown, and often have a darkened form. A distinctive feature is a protruding post-medial line on the forewing that usually meets or breaks the post-discal wavy line.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
The wingspan ranges from about 25 to 32 mm.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
The larvae feed on a variety of shrubs and herbaceous plants, including bilberry and bog bilberry (Vaccinium spp.), sea aster, alder and willow.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The green pupa has whitish wing sheaths and a brown, blunt rounded cremaster.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults fly in July and August.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
In North America it occurs from Alaska and Newfoundland down to New England and California. Its range also extends across Europe and the temperate zone of Asia to northwest China, Mongolia, the Russian Far East and Japan, and it has been reported in India.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It is very similar to Dysstroma truncata.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 24 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Alaska, California, Washington, Wyoming, North Carolina, Colorado, Vermont, Michigan.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in Canada; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Same family (Geometridae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysstroma_citrata
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-24.