Eastern big fox
| Eastern big fox | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
_I_IMG_7043.jpg)
Eastern big fox ( Aglais xanthomelas ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Aglais xanthomelas | ||||||||||||
| ( Esper , 1781) |
.JPG)
The eastern great fox ( Aglais xanthomelas ), also known as the great fire fox , brook willow meadow butterfly or bastard fox , is a butterfly (day butterfly ) from the family of noble butterflies (Nymphalidae).
description
The moths reach a wingspan of 50 to 56 millimeters. They have an orange-brown to red-brown basic color. There are several black spots of different sizes on the forewings. A whitish spot stands out near the apex . The outer edge is dark with a fine, whitish, embedded line and strongly jagged. The lower wings show a large black spot in the middle of the front edge, have a dark outer edge with some embedded bluish drawing elements and are also strongly jagged. The caterpillars are black-gray in color, prickly and have numerous small, yellow spots and deep black side stripes. The pupa is light gray to light brown, frosted gray-blue and shows no metal spots.
Similar species
The moths are very similar to the great fox ( Nymphalis polychloros ), but differ from it in the following features:
- Basic color bright orange to red-brown
- Outer edge more jagged
- Spot on apex more clearly white
- Legs colored yellow, with polychloros they are black
There is little resemblance to the much smaller and more colorful little fox ( Aglais urticae ) and Nymphalis vaualbum , which has a distinctive white spot on both sides of the hind wings.
Distribution and occurrence
As the name of the species suggests, its distribution from Eastern Europe consistently covers the entire Central and East Asian region including the Himalayan region, Japan and Taiwan. Until the middle of the twentieth century it occurred as a moth and caterpillar for several years, sometimes in numbers, also in Pomerania, Thuringia, Brandenburg, Berlin and Bavaria. Günter Ebert and Erwin Rennwald question older documents from Baden-Württemberg as incorrect determinations or mix-ups. They draw the conclusion: "This eastern species does not occur in Baden-Württemberg." The animals are mainly found in less hot areas. You can find them in light forests or bushy terrain. In Austria there is more recent evidence from Korneuburg and from Kahlenberg , very old evidence also from Upper Austria ( Kremsmünster , Mattighofen ).
The population in Japan is separated from the nominate subspecies as a separate subspecies Nymphalis xanthomelas japonica (Stichel, 1908) . The subspecies Aglais xanthomelas fervescens (graver, 1908) occurs in Turkmenistan , Tajikistan , Uzbekistan , Kyrgyzstan , Kazakhstan and in the Himalayas. This subspecies rises in the Indian part of the Himalayas up to 3600 m. The subspecies Aglais xanthomelas formosana (Matsumura, 1925) is restricted to Taiwan .
Way of life
The moths fly from June to late autumn, hibernate and fly again from early spring to May. The females lay the eggs on the tips of the branches of the forage plants - preferably on willows - ( Salix ) and elm species ( Ulmus ) - where the caterpillars live socially in nests mainly in May and June. They pupate in a tumbler . These details refer to Central and Eastern Europe.
Danger
The species is considered lost or extinct in Germany and is therefore classified in category 0 on the Red List of Endangered Species .
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tom Tolman and Richard Lewington: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa. 319 p., Kosmos Naturführer, Stuttgart 1998 ISBN 3-440-07573-7
- ↑ Red Lists
- ↑ Walter Forster , Theodor A. Wohlfahrt : The butterflies of Central Europe. Volume 2: Butterflies. (Rhopalocera and Hesperiidae). Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1955, DNB 456642188 .
- ↑ E. and H. Urbahn: The butterflies of Pomerania. Entomological Association in Stettin 100th year 1939
- ↑ Arno Bergmann: The large butterflies of Central Germany. Volume 4/1: Owls. Distribution, forms and communities. Urania-Verlag, Jena 1954, DNB 450378373 .
- ↑ Ulrich von Chappuis: Changes in the large butterfly world in the province of Brandenburg up to 1938 , German Entomological Journal, year 1942
- ^ Karl Cleve: The butterflies of West Berlin. Berliner Naturschutzblätter, Volksbund Naturschutz eV No. 42, 1970
- ↑ Ludwig Osthelder: The butterflies of southern Bavaria . Supplement to the 15th year of the Munich Entomological Society
- ^ Günter Ebert (Ed.): The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg. Volume 1. Butterfly I (Knight Butterfly (Papilionidae), Whiteflies (Pieridae), Edelfalter (Nymphalidae)). Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1993. ISBN 3-8001-3451-9
- ↑ K. KUSDAS & ER REICHL: The butterflies of Upper Austria , 1973
- ↑ VVDubatolov and Yu.P.Korshunov: Nymphalidae (of the) collection of Siberian Zoological Museum
- ↑ Arun P. Singh: Butterflies of Kedarnath Musk Deer Reserve, Garhwal Himalaya, India. JoTT Communication 1 (1): 37-48 PDF ( Memento from February 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Illustrated Handbook of Butterflies in Taiwan
- ↑ Hans-Josef Weidemann: Butterfly: observe, determine , Naturbuch-Verlag Augsburg 1995, ISBN 3-89440-115-X
- ↑ Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Ed.): Red List of Endangered Animals in Germany. Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster 1998, ISBN 978-3-89624-110-8
literature
- Hans-Josef Weidemann: Butterfly: observe, determine , Naturbuch-Verlag Augsburg 1995, ISBN 3-89440-115-X
- Günter Ebert (Ed.): The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg. Volume 1. Butterfly I (Knight Butterfly (Papilionidae), Whiteflies (Pieridae), Edelfalter (Nymphalidae)). Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1993. ISBN 3-8001-3451-9
Web links
- Lepiforum e. V. Taxonomy and Photos
- www.nic.funet.fi Occurrence worldwide
- www.schmetterlinge-deutschlands.de Endangerment
- www.faunaeur.org Taxonomy (English)