Mountain pea ram
| Mountain pea ram | ||||||||||||
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Mountain pea ram ( Zygaena fausta ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Zygaena fausta | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1767) |
The mountain vetch ram ( Zygaena fausta ) is also called the yellow crown vetch or Glückswidderchen and is a butterfly ( moth ) from the ram family (Zygaenidae).
features
The moths reach a wingspan of about 25 millimeters. They have black forewings , but they are dominated by red spots that are outlined in yellow and are more or less related to one another. On the thorax towards the head there is a red collar and usually two yellow longitudinal stripes. On the abdomen, the males wear a red ring that extends over three segments and the females one over two segments.
The caterpillars are approx. 18 millimeters long. They are light green and have an alternating white and yellow side line on the sides. Above that, black dots are lined up in parallel. The neck shield and the follower are pink.
Occurrence
The animals are only very rare in Central Europe and their numbers are in decline. But you can still find them in the Swabian Alb , in the Franconian Jura (e.g. in Neuburg an der Donau ), in the Alps and especially in the western Mediterranean area . The deposits in Bavaria south of the Danube are now extinct. In Austria the species was found in Vorarlberg and Tyrol ( Lechtal ). They live on warm forest edges , with chalky soils and stocks of their forage plants and in the Alps like on avalanche slopes covered with debris . They can often be found in large numbers on very small areas where they were found.
Way of life
The moths often sit in groups on purple and pink flowers in the evening, especially on widow flowers , scabies and oregano .
Flight and caterpillar times
One generation of the mountain vetch flies from mid-July to mid-August. The caterpillars can be observed from September and after wintering until June.
Food of the caterpillars
In the extra-Alpine Central Europe, the caterpillars feed exclusively on the leaves of the mountain vetch ( Coronilla coronata ), in southern Europe and the Alps they also eat other types of vetch ( Coronilla ).
development
The females lay their yellow eggs side by side in small mirrors on the top or bottom of the leaves of their forage plants. The caterpillars live together. They overwinter and pupate on the ground in a clay-shaped, glossy white cocoon at the end of the flowering period of their feeding plants until the next year . The pupa is gray-brown and has light-colored wing sheaths.
Hazard and protection
- Red list FRG: 2 (endangered).
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ Zygaena fausta, Upper Bavaria
- ↑ Ludwig Osthelder: The butterflies of southern Bavaria , communications of the Munich Entomological Society, 1925-29
- ↑ Manfred Koch : We identify butterflies. Volume 2: Bears, Spinners, Swarmers and Drills in Germany. 2nd, expanded edition. Neumann, Radebeul / Berlin 1964, DNB 452481929 .
- ↑ Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Ed.): Red List of Endangered Animals in Germany . Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster 1998, ISBN 3-89624-110-9 .
literature
- Heiko Bellmann : The new Kosmos butterfly guide, butterflies, caterpillars and forage plants . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-440-09330-1 .
- Hans-Josef Weidemann, Jochen Köhler: Moths, Spinners and Swarmers . Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1996, ISBN 3-89440-128-1 .
- CM Naumann, WG Tremewan: The Western Palaearctic Zygaenidae . 1st edition. Apollo Books, Stenstrup 1999, ISBN 87-88757-15-3 (English).
Web links
- www.lepiforum.de: Taxonomy and photos
- Zygaena fausta at Fauna Europaea. Retrieved March 16, 2011
- www.schmetterling-raupe.de
- Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa (English)