Mountain meadow owl

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Mountain meadow owl
Epipsilia grisescens.jpg

Mountain meadow ground owl ( Epipsilia grisescens )

Systematics
Family : Owl butterfly (Noctuidae)
Subfamily : Noctuinae
Tribe : Noctuini
Sub tribus : Noctuina
Genre : Epipsilia
Type : Mountain meadow owl
Scientific name
Epipsilia grisescens
( Fabricius , 1794)

The mountain meadow ground owl ( Epipsilia grisescens ) is a butterfly ( moth ) from the family of the owl butterflies (Noctuidae).

features

The moths have a wingspan of 24 to 34 millimeters. The thorax is colored gray. The forewings have a light gray, yellow-gray or brown-gray basic color. The strongly toothed, dark but simple transverse lines are striking. Ring and kidney defects as well as a middle shadow may be present, but they may also be absent or very blurred. Tenon flaws are missing. The whitish hind wings show a fuzzy wavy line in the middle and are slightly darkened towards the edge.

Adult caterpillars are gray-yellow in color and have three light dorsal lines, the two lateral lines being delimited inward on each segment by crescent-shaped spots. The doll is red-brown.

Similar species

The species is very similar to Epipsilia latens , but it shows rounder fore wings and usually a darker color. Other species with a gray base color, for example Agrotis simplonia , Euxoa birivia , Rhyacia helvetina , the ash gray earth owl ( Agrotis cinerea ), the light gray earth owl ( Euxoa decora ) and the ash gray earth owl ( Xestia ashworthii ssp. Candelarum ) differ in that they are less distinctive Cross lines.

Geographical distribution and habitat

Due to the warming of the Ice Age , two independent populations of this cooler climate-loving species formed. In the southern parts of Fennoscandinavia and Denmark , the ssp. septentrionalis , which occurs there from sea level to about 400 m above sea level. The nominate subspecies grisescens occurs in the mountainous or mountainous areas of northern Spain , the Alps , the Apennines , the southern Balkan Mountains (as far as northern Greece) and the Caucasus . In Germany, the species has been identified not only from the Alps but also from the Black Forest and the Swabian Alb, as well as from Bavaria. In the Alps, it rises to over 2,800 meters. It lives there on rocky, little overgrown grass slopes and stony pastures, often above the tree line.

Way of life

The predominantly nocturnal moths of the mountain meadow ground owl fly from June to September in one generation a year. Occasionally they are also observed during the day. In the south they take a summer break. They come to artificial light sources , and visit the bait and flowers. The caterpillars can be found from September. They hide during the day and feed on various grasses at night. The caterpillars overwinter and pupate mostly in May of the following year.

Danger

In Germany, the mountain meadow owl occurs in Bavaria , where it is not endangered, and in Baden-Württemberg , where it is listed as an unexplained endangered species on the Red List of Endangered Species .

Systematics

There are two subspecies:

  • Epipsilia grisescens grisescens (Fabricius, 1794), slightly larger wingspan, darker hind wings
  • Epipsilia grisescens septentrionalis Fibiger, 1993, slightly smaller wingspan, due to the narrower forewings and the lighter rear wings with a distinct, dark fringe.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Fibiger (1993: pp. 24-27)
  2. ^ Forster & Wohlfahrt (1971: p. 27)
  3. ↑ Butterflies and their ecology
  4. ↑ a b Axel Steiner in Ebert (1998: pp. 412–414)
  5. ↑ Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Ed.): Red List of Endangered Animals in Germany . Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster 1998, ISBN 3-89624-110-9 .

literature

  • Michael Fibiger: Noctuinae II . In: WG Tremewan (Ed.): Noctuidae Europaeae . 1st edition. tape 2 . Entomological Press, Sorø 1993, ISBN 87-89430-02-6 (English).
  • Günter Ebert (Ed.): The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg . 1st edition. tape 7 . Moth V Noctuidae 3rd part. Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 1998, ISBN 3-8001-3500-0 .
  • Walter Forster , Theodor A. Wohlfahrt : The butterflies of Central Europe. Volume 4: Owls. (Noctuidae). Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1971, ISBN 3-440-03752-5 .

Web links

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