Bent-lined carpet
The Bent-lined Carpet can be told apart from its near twin, the Gem, only by a faint slanted dark line at the forewing tip.
| Where | Wet bottomlands, ditches and roadsides |
|---|---|
| Size | 17 to 23 mm wingspan |
| When | March to October |
Gray to rusty forewings carry two dark brown bands; the outer one stops abruptly partway across the wing instead of reaching the leading edge, with a small black spot marking where the second band ends. Females show darker shading between the bands than males.
Caterpillars feed on smartweeds and knotweeds in damp, weedy ground such as ditches, streamsides and field margins. Adults come to lights at night and fly across two or more generations from early spring into fall.
Traits
Habitat
Wetland
Colour
Grey, Brown
Active
Night
To people
Harmless to people; adults come to lights at night but do not bite or sting.
Activity through the year
Often confused with
Always shows an oblique, smudgy blackish line at the outer tip of the forewing, a mark the Bent-lined Carpet lacks.
Questions
Is the Bent-lined carpet dangerous to people?
Harmless to people; adults come to lights at night but do not bite or sting.
When can you see the Bent-lined carpet?
The Bent-lined carpet can be seen from March to October, at night.
Plate retouched from a photo by Alexis Smith, CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist Licence
Report a mistake in this entry
Butterflies and moths›Geometer moths›Costaconvexa
Last updated 2026-09-26. Every entry is checked against published sources.