Admiral (butterfly)
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Admiral ( Vanessa atalanta ) |
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| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
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The admiral ( Vanessa atalanta , Syn .: Pyrameis atalanta ) is a very well-known and widespread butterfly of the northern hemisphere from the family of the noble butterfly (Nymphalidae). The specific epithet is derived from Atalanta , a huntress from Greek mythology .
description
Adults
The moths reach a wingspan of 55 to 65 millimeters. They have velvety black forewing tops with a broad, jagged, brick-red band running roughly in the middle. The females almost always have a small white spot in this area. The deep black tips of the forewings bear a large white bar and several small white spots. The hind wings are also deep black-brown in color and have a wide orange-red band on the outer edge of the wing. A row of black dots runs in the middle and an elongated blue spot in the rear corner. At the very edge of all four wings runs a very thin white line, briefly interrupted by black dots.
In the North American subspecies V. atalanta rubria , the white bar is significantly smaller, sometimes only half as large. The narrow red band on the fore and hind wings is not a clear diagnostic feature.
The underside of the forewing is the same as the upper side, except that the area between the apex and the white spots is marbled light and dark brown, two bluish lines or large blue spots are between the cell and the subapical white spot. In addition, the red band is darker and the inner edge is more irregular.
The hind wing underside is marbled in various shades of brown with reddish, black and purple indentations. A white or yellowish spot in the middle on the front edge stands out well from the rest of the dark wing, on the outer edge there is a fuzzy gray band.
Variations
Numerous aberrations (deviations) are known from the admiral. The color of the red band varies from yellow to orange to carmine red and it can be interrupted by black scales on the forewing. Likewise, the number of white spots is not constant.
Caterpillar
The prickly caterpillars are about 40 millimeters long. They are variable in their coloration depending on the area of distribution, but generally yellowish gray or brown to black and have a row of cream-colored spots of different sizes on the sides. These are particularly evident in dark caterpillars. Sometimes these spots are completely absent. The head capsule is black or brown in paler caterpillars.
Doll
The tumbling pupa is gray-brown or red-gray or, if the caterpillar was light, green-gray with a bronze sheen, and covered with a network of fine dark lines. On the ventral side, which is speckled with gold, there is a series of conical, golden protuberances to the left and right.
Eggs on the underside of the leaves of a nettle
Single egg
Caterpillar in (here unrolled) leaf bag
Doll
V. atalanta rubria
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Similar species
- Canarian Admiral ( Vanessa vulcania ) ( Godart , 1819) - Found in the Canary Islands and Spain
- Indian Admiral (Vanessa indica) ( Fall , 1794) - The white spots on the forewing are significantly smaller and the orange band wider. It occurs from northern India through China to Japan in the north and Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines in the south.
Occurrence
The admiral occurs with the subspecies V. atalanta rubria in North America from the arctic tundra to Guatemala and the Greater Antilles , the nominate species V. atalanta atalanta in northwest Africa from Morocco to Tunisia , on all Mediterranean islands and from Western Europe across Europe, Asia Minor , the Caucasus to western Asia in western Siberia , the northern Tian Shan , the Djungarian Alatau , the Altai and the Sajan Mountains .
The occurrence in the northern latitudes in Eurasia (Ireland, Great Britain, Fennoscandinavia , Siberia) and North America ( Alaska and northern Canada) depends heavily on migration . In Eurasia the moths reach the 60th parallel and are thus found in Siberia far away from their usual mountainous habitats. The occurrence of moths in Iceland depends entirely on migration . The admiral has established itself in Hawaii , New Zealand , Bermuda , the Azores and the Canaries . It can be found up to an altitude of 2500 meters.
Each area has populations that are specially adapted to the regional climate and migrate north in spring and south in autumn within a climatically similar area. Today, the southern European populations no longer fly to Central Europe , but to the north within the Mediterranean region and, above all, to the mountains. Central European populations fly north to south Scandinavia and return to their wintering areas in autumn. These are mainly in southwest Germany and in eastern France. The northern border of permanent distribution in Europe currently runs from southern England and Denmark to Rügen . At the beginning of the 21st century, the approach from southern to central Europe seems to have come to a complete standstill.
Great hikes are also known from North America. The animals reach Alaska and northern Canada in the summer and scatter to Iceland.
The well-known migratory butterflies live in various habitats such as forests , on agricultural land, but also in gardens and in settlement areas.
Way of life
You can often see the admiral on butterfly lilacs ( Buddleja davidii ), blackberries ( Rubus fruticosus ), magnificent sedum ( Hylotelephium spectabile ) or water feast ( Eupatorium cannabinum ), in autumn they also like to suckle on fallen fruit and ivy blossoms ( Hedera helix ). .
The males wait mainly from afternoon to evening on elevated places such as hills, bushes or roofs for females who come by later.
Flight times
The moths fly in Central Europe from May to October, they live for up to three generations a year. On warm days in winter, sporadic hibernating moths can also be encountered, whereby the animals usually only die in stronger frost.
In North America, two generations fly in Colorado from late June to early August and from late August with overwintering until May. There are four or more generations for most of the year in southern Texas, Florida, and the lower elevations of California.
Food of the caterpillars
In Central Europe, the caterpillars of the admiral feed exclusively on the great nettle ( Urtica dioica ). In the southern distribution areas they also feed on the glass herbs ( Parietaria ) belonging to the nettle family (Urticaceae) such as upright glass herb ( P. officinalis ), P. diffusa and small glass herb ( P. debilis ).
In north-west Africa tailed nettle ( U. membranacea ), pill nettle ( U. pilulifera ), small nettle ( U. urens ) and upright glass herb ( Parietaria officinalis ) have been identified, in the Canaries only small nettle and rarely Parietaria species.
The following food plants have been found in North America: Great nettle ( U. dioica ) with the subspecies gracilis and holosericea , small nettle ( U. urens ), bobbed head ( Soleirolia soleirolii ), Pennsylvanian glass herb ( Parietaria pennsylvanica ), Parietaria floridani , Boehmeria cylindrica , Pipturus albidus , Laportea canadensis and real hops ( Humulus lupulus ). Pipturus albidus has been found in Hawaii .
development
The females lay their pale green eggs individually on partially shaded forage plants. The young caterpillar spins together a nest from young leaves or parts of them. The older caterpillar bites through leaf stalks and spins the leaves together into the typical eye-catching leaf bags in which it lives. The leaves of the tube are eaten from the tip and only left when the caterpillar has eaten them so far that they no longer offer sufficient protection. It also pupates in its hiding place.
Mass reproduction
Occasionally, massive occurrences ( gradation ) of the caterpillars of the admiral butterfly have been reported, although the caterpillars are harmless to humans and animals as well as to useful plants.
Systematics
The admiral was first described by Linné in 1758 as Papilio atalanta based on a find in Sweden. The epithet refers to Atalante , a virgin huntress and daughter of Clymene from Greek mythology .
Due to the variable appearance of the moths, many formal names were given; 26 authors gave 47 names for the sometimes remarkable aberrations. Except for the distinction between the subspecies of the Old and New World, these have proven useless.
Subspecies
- Vanessa atalanta atalanta ( Linnaeus , 1758)
- Vanessa atalanta rubria ( Fruhstorfer , 1909)
Synonyms
- Papilio atalanta , Linnaeus , 1758
- Papilio atalanta , Fabricius , 1775
- Pyrameis atalanta , Doubleday , 1849
- Cynthia atalanta , Barnes and Benjamin , 1926
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Arnold Spuler: The butterflies of Europe . tape 1 . E. Schweitzerbartsche Verlagbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1908, p. 19 .
- ↑ a b Adalbert Seitz: The large butterflies of the earth . Volume 1: The Palaearctic Butterflies . Stuttgart, 1929-31, p. 198.
- ↑ a b Butterflies and their habitats . Swiss Confederation for Nature Conservation, 1987, 3-85587-402-2, p. 181.
- ↑ Jeremy A. Thomas: The Hamlyn Guide to the Butterflies of the British Isles . Hamlyn, London, 1989, ISBN 0-600-56512-2 , p. 106.
- ↑ Thomas Marktanner: Butterflies of the Southern Alps . Athesia, Bozen, 1983, ISBN 88-7014-299-X , p. 24.
- ^ Lionel G. Higgins, Norman D. Riley: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa . Verlag Paul Parey, Hamburg & Berlin, 1978, ISBN 3-490-01918-0 , p. 318.
- ↑ a b c d Heiko Bellmann : The new cosmos butterfly guide. Butterflies, caterpillars and forage plants. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-440-09330-1 , p. 168.
- ↑ a b c d e f William Dewitt Field : Butterflies of the Genus Vanessa and of the Resurrected Genera Bassaris and Cynthia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) . In: Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology . No. 84 . Smithsonian Institution Press, 1971 ( PDF [accessed January 18, 2018]).
- ↑ a b c d e f g James A. Scott: The butterflies of North America . Stanford University Press, Stanford, California 1986, ISBN 0-8047-1205-0 .
- ↑ VK Tuzov, PV Bogdanov, SV Churkin, AV Dantchenko, AL Devyatkin, VS Murzin, GD Samodurov, AB Zhdanko: Libytheidae, Danaidae, Nymphalidae, Riodinidae, Lycaenidae . In: Guide to the Butterflies of Russia and adjacent territories . tape 2 . Pensoft, Sofia 2000, ISBN 954-642-095-6 , pp. 25 .
- ↑ a b c d Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-440-07573-7 , p. 148.
- ↑ Lepiforum.de: Vanessa atalanta (LINNAEUS, 1758) - Admiral . Retrieved January 23, 2018.
- ↑ Wolfgang Düring: The Admiral. In: Species portraits of butterflies in Rhineland-Palatinate. BUND RLP, February 25, 2020, accessed on February 25, 2020 (German).
- ↑ ORF Upper Austria: caterpillar invasion in Gallspach
literature
- Hans-Josef Weidemann: Butterfly: observe, determine , Naturbuch-Verlag Augsburg 1995, ISBN 3-89440-115-X
- Günter Ebert, Erwin Rennwald: The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg Volume 1, Tagfalter I. Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1993. ISBN 3-8001-3451-9
