Maple bark owl
| Maple bark owl | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Maple bark owl ( Acronicta aceris ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Acronicta (Acronicta) aceris | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The Maple Moth ( Acronicta aceris ), also Ahorneule or Rosskastanieneule is a butterfly ( moth ) from the family of cutworms (Noctuidae).
features
The moths reach a wingspan of 41 to 49 millimeters. They have forewings, the basic color of which varies from light gray to dark gray. A short, darker root line than the basic color and an equally dark tornal line interrupted in the middle are always present. Inner and outer transverse lines are black, drawn twice and clearly jagged. The outer transverse line is sharply angled between the rear edge and the tornal line and clearly jumps back inwards. The middle shadow is always present, but only weakly developed and also shifted towards the outer transverse line. The hem line is indicated by small black dots. The ring flaw, kept in the basic color, is usually relatively large, rounded to longitudinally elliptical and outlined in black. But there are also specimens with slightly smaller ring flaws, the black border of which is incomplete. The kidney defect is also mostly large and outlined in black. It has a darker spot and a darker line in the middle. The fringes are light gray with narrow internal (arrow) lines. In the male the hind wings are white, in the females white with dark wing veins. The midline is present in both sexes, but only weakly developed in the male and indicated by a row of dots. The fringes of the hind wings are gray with internural lines. The undersides of the hind wings are whitish to gray, the undersides of the forewings dark gray. Fore and hind wings have a center line and a discal spot on the underside. Like the fore wings, the head and thorax are colored in different shades of gray.
The eggs are flat-cone-shaped with a slightly indented, rounded edge. The surface is covered with weak, slightly wavy longitudinal ribs. The eggs are initially yellowish white, but they change color quickly. They are then reddish-brown and have white spots.
The caterpillars are about 40 millimeters long. Their basic color is gray, but you can't see much of that through their bizarre hair. The hairs (better bristles) are yellow or orange in color and mostly arranged in conical tufts that protrude in all directions. There is no hair on the back, on each segment there is a large white, slightly diamond-shaped spot, which is visible with a black border.
The pupa is red-brown and has a blunt cremaster with thorn-shaped bristles.
Geographical occurrence and habitat
The distribution area of the maple bark owl extends from the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Urals . From there on through Siberia, Central Asia, the Altai to western China. In Europe, the southern limit of distribution extends through central Spain (apart from a small isolated occurrence in southern Portugal and an occurrence further south in the Sierra Nevada ), France, Corsica, Italy, the Balkan Peninsula as far as Asia Minor. The species is also found in northwest Africa, Cyprus, the Middle East (Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Jordan) and the Caucasus region. In the north, it spreads across the British Isles to around Central England. In Scandinavia, the distribution extends to southern Norway, southern Sweden and southern Finland with a few isolated occurrences also north of this border, and from there across central Russia to the Ural Mountains.
The animals live in moist deciduous forests with maples ( Acer ) and poplars ( Populus ), but also in somewhat drier areas such as cities and villages with avenues, parks and gardens. They are common, but rare; in the Alps rising to 1600 m.
Way of life
The maple bark owl forms two to three generations per year in the south of its distribution area, in the north only one generation is formed. In southern Germany, the findings are not entirely clear as to whether only a single, extended generation or two generations are formed per year. In Baden-Württemberg , the moths' flight time in lower-lying regions such as the Upper Rhine Plain begins around mid-May, and very rarely at the end of April. It extends into September. At least in these lower-lying regions, a second small maximum can often be observed from the end of July to the beginning of September, which suggests a partial second generation. In contrast, the moths do not appear in higher regions such as the Black Forest and Swabian Alb before the beginning of June and fly until around mid-August. Probably only one generation should be formed here. During the day the moths rest on tree trunks; they also fly to artificial light sources at night. The caterpillars are found from July to September. The caterpillars feed mainly on the leaves of sycamore maple ( Acer pseudoplatanus ), common horse chestnut ( Aesculus hippocastanum ), poplars ( Populus ) and willows ( Salix ), but also on oaks ( Quercus ), beeches ( Fagus ), linden ( Tilia ) and Elms ( ulmus ). The caterpillars curl up when disturbed and form a ball with outward-facing hair. When rolled up, they can hardly be recognized as caterpillars. They pupate in a cocoon that is partly made up of their hair. They winter in it. Sometimes the doll also lays out for a year.
Danger
The species is generally not considered endangered in Germany. In Saarland , however, it is threatened with extinction (Category 1) and was rare there in the past. In Baden-Württemberg it is classified as endangered (category 3).
Systematics
Several subspecies have been described in the literature, such as calceata (Dannehl, 1929) from southern Abruzzo , cazorlensis Calle, 1982 from the Sierra de Cazorla (Spain), rita Rungs, 1972 from northwest Africa, judaea Staudinger, 1901 from Palestine and southern Turkey , taurica Staudinger, 1901 from southern Turkey and Cyprus and johanna Schawerda, 1940 from northern Iraq. However, all subspecies have been identified by Fibiger et al. (2009) reunited under the nominate subspecies, so that currently no subspecies are differentiated within the species. Fibiger et al. (2009) place the species in the nominate subgenus Acronicta (Acronicta) .
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Red Lists of the German Federal States
- ↑ a b Fibiger et al. (2009: p. 53/4)
- ↑ a b c d Walter Forster , Theodor A. Wohlfahrt : The butterflies of Central Europe. Volume 4: Owls. (Noctuidae). Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1971, ISBN 3-440-03752-5 .
- ↑ Ebert et al. (1997: pp. 24 to 28)
- ↑ a b c Heiko Bellmann : The new Kosmos butterfly guide. Butterflies, caterpillars and forage plants. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-440-09330-1 , p. 252.
- ↑ Acronicta aceris. Butterflies-Deutschlands.de, Christian Tolasch, accessed on October 21, 2006 .
literature
- Günter Ebert (Ed.): The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg. Volume 6. Moth IV (Noctuidae 2nd part). Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1997, 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
