Brown eye (butterfly)

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Brown eye
Male brown eye (Lasiommata maera)

Male brown eye ( Lasiommata maera )

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family : Noble butterfly (Nymphalidae)
Subfamily : Eye butterflies (Satyrinae)
Genre : Lasiommata
Type : Brown eye
Scientific name
Lasiommata maera
( Linnaeus , 1758)
Wing undersides of a brown-eyed female
in the habitat

The brown eye ( Lasiommata maera ) is a butterfly (day butterfly ) from the noble butterfly family (Nymphalidae).

features

The moths reach a wingspan of 37 to 50 millimeters. The moths are slightly larger than the wall fox ( Lasiommata megera ) and have a gray-brown basic color on the upper side of the wings. A large part of the forewings is colored orange-brown, with a dark brown wipe separating this field. In this orange field, near the wing tip, there is a black spot, usually with a double white nucleus, the area around which is a little lighter orange. On the hind wings there are three to four black spots with white cores, but they are much smaller. The hind wings are colored orange only closely around them. The outermost spot is primarily orange and has only a tiny pitted spot in the middle. The underside of the front wings are colored just like the wall fox. They are orange-brown and also have a black eye-spot with double white nuclei. On the light brown-gray hind wings in cells 1c - 6 there are brown eye spots with black and white edges and white nuclei.

The caterpillars are about 28 millimeters long. They are colored blue-green and have a slightly darker colored line on the back, which has a white border on both sides. There are also two light longitudinal lines on each side.

Similar species

  • Brown check eye ( Lasiommata petropolitana )
  • Wall fox ( Lasiommata megera )

distribution

The animals are found in North Africa , almost all of Europe except for parts of the north, to the west of Siberia . In Africa they live up to 2,800 meters above sea level, otherwise, depending on the region, up to 2,000 meters. They are not uncommon in the low mountain ranges and the Alps and occur almost everywhere. On the plains they are rare and in great retreat. They inhabit forest edges and clearings, nutrient-poor, rocky and dry meadows and scree fields.

Flight time

The animals fly in two generations each year from late April to June and from June to September. In the north and in cold areas they only fly in one generation from mid-June to the end of August, in North Africa there is also said to be a third generation.

Food of the caterpillars

The caterpillars feed on real sheep fescue ( Festuca ovina ), land equestrian grass ( Calamagrostis epigeios ), woolly honey grass ( Holcus lanatus ) and other types of sweet grass .

development

The females lay their eggs one by one on withered blades of grass. The animals especially like to pupate on overhanging rocks in an olive-green to almost black, very slim pupa . This has a comb on the back and eight white dots behind it. The animals of the second generation overwinter as caterpillars.

credentials

  1. ↑ a b c d e Heiko Bellmann : The new cosmos butterfly guide. Butterflies, caterpillars and forage plants. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-440-09330-1 , p. 196.
  2. ↑ a b Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: Die Tagfalter Europäische und Nordwestafrikas , p. 247f, Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-440-07573-7

Web links

Commons : Brown Eye  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files