Anus wool

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Gypsy moth-female with clutch covered with anal wool

As After wool , referred to dandruff females with different families of butterflies Apply laying eggs on and around the eggs. These can be stripped from the rear edge of the wings , as is the case with some curlers (Tortricidae), but most often they come from a strongly developed tuft of hair, the so-called anal bush at the end of the abdomen.

They are used to cover the clutch for reasons of thermal insulation , camouflage or to keep rainwater away, but also serve as a mechanical defense against predators and parasitoids , such as with carrier spiders, or can also be interspersed with stinging hairs . These originally come from the pupating caterpillar that they used to make the cocoon . After hatching, the female moths brush them from the inner wall of the cocoon onto their anal bush. The stinging hairs are applied to the eggs either exclusively or mixed with their own hair scales for protection when the eggs are laid. This behavior has been demonstrated in carrier spiders, tooth spinners (Notodontidae) and there in particular in processionary spiders ( Thaumetopoeinae) and peacock spiders (Saturniidae) of the subfamily Hemileucinae . Other families in which the clutches are covered with anus wool include the cluck (Lasiocampidae), carrier moth (Lymantriidae), bear moth (Arctiidae), spanner (Geometridae) and bluebird (Lycaenidae).

A typical example is the gypsy moth ( Lymantria dispar ), which got its German name from the sponge-like appearance of its clutch covered with anus wool.

supporting documents

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Graham J Floater: Tuft scales and egg protection in Ochrogaster lunifer Herrich-Schäffer (Lepidoptera: Thaumetopoeidae) . Australian Journal of Entomology (1998) 37, pp. 34-39
  2. ↑ Malcolm J. Scoble: The Lepidoptera: Form, Function and Diversity . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1995, ISBN 0-19-854952-0 (English).
  3. ^ Hans-Josef Weidemann, Jochen Köhler: Moths, Spinners and Swarmers . Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1996, ISBN 3-89440-128-1 , p. 362 ff .
  4. ↑ H. Eikamp, ​​R. Hohmann: Native butterflies: Schwammspinner, Lymantria dispar (PDF; 511 kB). P. 2. ISSN  0934-1366

literature