Woolen bark owl

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Woolen bark owl
Woolly bark owl (Acronicta leporina)

Woolly bark owl ( Acronicta leporina )

Systematics
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Superfamily : Noctuoidea
Family : Owl butterfly (Noctuidae)
Subfamily : Acronictinae
Genre : Acronicta
Type : Woolen bark owl
Scientific name
Acronicta leporina
( Linnaeus , 1758)
Woolly bark owl caterpillar
Woolly bark owl caterpillar
Different pre-imaginal stages of the woolly bark owl from Jacob Huebner , History of European Butterflies

The woolly bark owl ( Acronicta leporina ) is a butterfly ( moth ) from the family of the owl butterflies (Noctuidae). In the German-speaking world, the species is also known as a poodle .

features

The woolly bark owl has a wingspan of 38 to 43 millimeters or 34 to 45 mm. The forewings have a pure white to light gray basic color, with only remnants of the transverse lines and blemish borders remaining black. In some areas there are also more or less darkened specimens. There is a short and narrow root line; a short tornal line is only hinted at. The inner transverse line is only indicated by two black points. The outer jagged transverse line is drawn in black and is simple, but often only indicated by dots. The middle shadow is only indicated on the front edge by a black spot, the edge line by a series of very small black dots. The ring flaw is very small or completely absent. The kidney defect is rarely completely outlined, usually only a semicircle and marked by a central line. The fringes are white with narrow internural lines. The hind wings of the male are white, the discal patch is faintly visible. In the female, some of the veins of the hind wings are black, a center line has also been developed and the discal spot is relatively clear. The fringes are white or gray. The undersides of the wings of the males are white, in the females it is gray. The females have an outer transverse line and a discal spot, while the males only have a discal spot. Specimens rarely appear in which the fringing area is darkened or in which the wings are evenly dusted gray.

The eggs are yellow at first, later they change color to a purple brown. They have a low cone shape and are very inconspicuous due to the flat edge. The surface is covered with very irregular, strong longitudinal ribs.

The caterpillars reach a length of up to 37 millimeters, they are green or yellow and from the fourth instar with long white or gray (southern specimens) or yellow (northern specimens) silk hairs. On the fourth, sixth, eighth and eleventh segments there is a thin, black tuft of hair. In adult caterpillars, the protective hair is reminiscent of a web, the color of which is variable. Before pupation, the caterpillar darkens and the hairs turn black.

The doll is dark red-brown. The cremaster has a tuft of bristles, the bristles of which point outwards.

Geographical distribution and habitat

The woolly bark owl is found almost all over Europe. The distribution area extends from southern Spain , central Italy and Bulgaria to Scotland and central Scandinavia , with Finland and Norway crossing the Arctic Circle . Outside Europe, only records from North Africa are known. In the eastern Palearctic and Nearctic , the woolly bark owl is replaced by the Acronicta vulpina (Grote, 1883) previously known as a subspecies . The eastern course of the distribution limit in Russia and whether an area of ​​overlap with Acronicta vulpina exists has not yet been clarified .

Bergmann describes the woolly bark owl as the main species of light poplar-birch bushes in the sunny edge zone of boggy deciduous forests in valleys of sandy landscapes of the hill level . In the Alps it rises to over 1600 m above sea level.

Way of life

The woolly bark owl forms one generation a year whose moths fly from May to September. Two abundance maxima were determined for several natural areas in Baden-Württemberg , although it has not yet been clarified whether this is a second generation or a single generation that hatched late. The caterpillars can be found from July to September.

During the day, the moths rest on the trunks of birch trees, at night they appear on sugary baits and in the light. The eggs are laid individually on leaves. After laying eggs, the caterpillars hatch after about seven days. They are diurnal and nocturnal and live individually or in small groups open on aspen ( Populus tremula ), birch ( Betula ), willow ( Salix ), privet ( Ligustrum ), ash ( Fraxinus ), alder ( Alnus ), linden ( Tilia ) and hazelnuts ( Corylus ). They usually sit on the underside of the leaf and rest under the leaves when rolled up. In the first caterpillar stage, they only cause window damage. Before pupation , the caterpillars run around for a while to find a suitable pupation place. Like other Acronicta species, they make cocoons out of bark and pieces of wood or they like to dig into rotten wood, the passage of which is closed with caterpillar hair.

The pupae overwinter and sometimes linger for a year or two.

Systematics

Acronicta leporina is described by Fibiger et al. (2009) placed on the nominate subgenus Acronicta . Numerous records from Asia and North America are now assigned to other species or viewed as separate species.

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bernard Skinner: Color Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles , Penguin UK 1999, ISBN 0-670-87978-9
  2. ↑ a b Fibiger et al. (2009: pp. 54/5)
  3. ↑ a b c Walter Forster , Theodor A. Wohlfahrt : The butterflies of Central Europe. Volume 4: Owls. (Noctuidae). Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1971, ISBN 3-440-03752-5 .
  4. ↑ a b c David J. Carter, Brian Hargreaves: Caterpillars and butterflies of Europe and their forage plants. Blackwell Wissenschaftsverlag 1987, ISBN 3-8263-8139-4
  5. ↑ K. Mikkola, JD Lafontaine, VS Kononenko: Zoogeography of the Holarctic species of the Noctuidae (Lepidoptera): importance of the Beringian refuge. Ent. fenn., 2: pp. 157-173, 1991
  6. ↑ a b c Arno Bergmann: The large butterflies of Central Germany. Volume 4/1: Owls. Distribution, forms and communities. Urania-Verlag, Jena 1954, DNB 450378373 .
  7. ↑ a b Ebert et al. (1997: pp. 28–31)

literature

  • Günter Ebert (Hrsg.): The Butterflies of Baden-Württemberg Volume 6, Nachtfalter IV. Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1997 (Eulen (Noctuidae) 2nd part), ISBN 3-8001-3482-9
  • Michael Fibiger, László Ronkay, Axel Steiner & Alberto Zilli: Noctuidae Europaeae Volume 11 Pantheinae, Dilobinae, Acronictinae, Eustrotiinae, Nolinae, Bagisarinae, Acontiinae, Metoponiinae, Heliothinae and Bryophilinae. 504 pp., Entomological Press, Sorø 2009 ISBN 978-87-89430-14-0
  • Jacob Hübner, History of European Butterflies CD-ROM, with a foreword by E. Pfeuffer, Harald Fischer Verlag, Erlangen 2004, ISBN 3-89131-427-2 [1]

Web links

Commons : Woll-Rindeneule  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files