Eastern muddy blue

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Eastern muddy blue
VPseudophilotes vicrama.jpg

Eastern blue blue ( Pseudophilotes vicrama )

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family : Bluebirds (Lycaenidae)
Subfamily : Polyommatinae
Genre : Pseudophilotes
Type : Eastern muddy blue
Scientific name
Pseudophilotes vicrama
( Moore , 1865)
Underside of the wing of the Eastern whorl blue

The Eastern Quendelbläuling ( Pseudophilotes vicrama ) is a butterfly ( butterfly ) from the family of Gossamer (Lycaenidae). The German name is derived from the food plants of the caterpillars, the thyme ( thymus ), which are also known as quendel.

features

butterfly

The moths reach a wingspan of about 22 to 29 millimeters. The upper side of the wing is colored gray-blue in the males. The upper side of the wings of the females is darker and only pollinated blue at the base of the wings. Both sexes have a blackish submarginal region and small, crescent-like spots on each wing as well as alternating black and white colored fringes on the wing edge. The wing undersides of the forewings are light blue-gray in color and have several large, black spots that are lightly bordered. On the undersides of the hind wings there is a row of several orange spots near the outer edge, which are lined with black on the sides.

Similar species

  • The Scolitantides Orion ( Scolitantides orion ) is colored larger and darker overall.
  • A clear distinguishing feature from Pseudophilotes panoptes is its sole occurrence on the Iberian Peninsula , so that there is no geographical overlap with vicrama . This species also has pale orange spots on the underside of the hind wings.
  • The species Pseudophilotes abencerragus , which occurs predominantly in southern Spain and North Africa, is completely missing the orange spots on the underside of the hind wings.
  • An extraordinarily similar species is the gray-blue blue-blue ( Pseudophilotes baton ), which is sometimes also referred to as the "western blue-blue blue". Outwardly, this is so similar to vicrama that an unambiguous determination is only possible with the aid of genital morphological features. However, since the Eastern Quendelbläuling, as the German name suggests, is found more in eastern regions, the respective geographical occurrence can also be helpful here in the assignment.

Occurrence

The Eastern Quendel blue is distributed from southern Finland through Eastern Europe , the Balkans , Turkey , Central Asia , Tian Shan and parts of China . The animals prefer dry areas with low vegetation, forest clearings and rocky terrain.

Way of life

In most regions the moths fly annually in two generations from April to June and again from July to August. In the Alps , on the other hand, there is only one generation that flies in June and July. The females lay their eggs on the flowers of the forage plants. The caterpillars need a lot of heat and sunlight to develop. They feed on the flowers and fruits of thyme and savory species ( Satureja ). Like many species of blue blue, the caterpillars of the Eastern blue blue live myrmekophil in symbiosis with ants (Formicidae) during part of their development .

Hazard and protection

In Germany the species comes in the ssp. schiffermuelleri (Hemming, 1929) in Brandenburg and Saxony and is listed on the Red List of Endangered Species in Category 1 (Critically Endangered).

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-440-07573-7 .
  2. ↑ Walter Forster, Theodor A. Wohlfahrt: The butterflies of Central Europe. Volume 2: Butterflies. (Rhopalocera and Hesperiidae). Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1955, DNB 456642188 .
  3. ↑ Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Ed.): Red List of Endangered Animals in Germany . Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster 1998, ISBN 3-89624-110-9 .

literature

  • Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-440-07573-7 .
  • Walter Forster , Theodor A. Wohlfahrt : The butterflies of Central Europe. Volume 2: Butterflies. (Rhopalocera and Hesperiidae). Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1955, DNB 456642188 .

Web links

Commons : Eastern Quendelbläuling  album with pictures, videos and audio files