Blackberry mother-of-pearl butterfly

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Blackberry mother-of-pearl butterfly
Blackberry mother-of-pearl butterfly (Brenthis daphne)

Blackberry mother-of-pearl butterfly ( Brenthis daphne )

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family : Noble butterfly (Nymphalidae)
Subfamily : Heliconiinae
Genre : Brenthis
Type : Blackberry mother-of-pearl butterfly
Scientific name
Brenthis daphne
( Denis & Schiffermüller , 1775)
Blackberry mother-of-pearl butterfly ( Brenthis daphne )
illustration

The blackberry mother-of-pearl butterfly ( Brenthis daphne ) is a butterfly (day butterfly ) from the noble butterfly family (Nymphalidae). The specific epithet is derived from Daphne , a mountain nymph from Greek mythology .

features

The moths reach a wingspan of 40 to 50 millimeters. They are very similar to the meadowsweet mother-of-pearl butterfly ( Brenthis ino ), but much larger. They also have orange-colored wing tops, whereby the coloring is stronger, and the black wing edge is not continuous, but, especially on the hind wings, reduced to dots. The underside of the hind wings are colored light yellow and somewhat orange in the front half, whereby a purely light yellow, delicately dark brown bordered band is conspicuous. On the back half of the hind wings, near the middle of the wings, there is a violet and dark brown colored band in which there are several dark spots with a white core. The wing edge is only slightly purple-brown in color at the bottom, and light at the top.

  • Blackberry mother-of-pearl butterfly

  • △ Blackberry mother-of-pearl butterfly

The caterpillars are about 28 millimeters long. They also look very similar to those of the meadowsweet mother-of-pearl. Their coloring, which consists of black and white vertical lines, is cleaner and richer in contrast. They also have light orange thorns, but the tips are not light.

Similar species

Occurrence

They occur more frequently in the south of Europe , only sporadically further in the north, in the northeast of Turkey , Iraq , Iran and large parts of Central Asia as far as Japan . They live up to an altitude of 1750 meters. In the Southern Alps and Alsace one can find even larger populations, but in Germany they are very rare and threatened with extinction. They only occur in Brandenburg , at one point on the Upper Rhine and in the Bliesgau Biosphere Reserve ( Saarland ). However, since they love warmth, Central and Northern Europe are only part of their range to a limited extent. The animals live on warm and sunlit forest edges and in light, slightly damp forests.

In the meantime, the blackberry mother-of-pearl butterfly is spreading more and more in a north-easterly direction due to climate change, while smaller populations exist in the lower Nahe. In 2012 a female was found for the first time near Lorch / Hessen and in 2017 a small population in Heidenrod / Hessen.

Flight and caterpillar times

The moths fly annually in one generation from late May to early August.

Way of life

The animals like to stay on blackberry or thistle flowers .

Food of the caterpillars

The caterpillars feed on blackberries ( Rubus fruticosus ) and raspberries ( Rubus idaeus ).

development

The females lay their eggs very late, in July, individually on the underside of the leaves of their forage plants. The caterpillars initially develop in the egg shell, but only hatch after overwintering. During the day, the caterpillars can be found sitting conspicuously freely on the leaves of their feeding plants. They pupate in a tumbled doll that has shimmering metallic blue back thorns.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Arnold Spuler: The butterflies of Europe . tape 1 . E. Schweitzerbartsche Verlagbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1908, p. 28 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Heiko Bellmann : The new Kosmos butterfly guide. Butterflies, caterpillars and forage plants. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-440-09330-1 , p. 166.
  3. ↑ a b c Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: Die Tagfalter Europas und Nordwestafrikas , p. 155f, Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-440-07573-7
  4. ↑ Brenthis daphne. Bund - Freunde der Natur, accessed on September 6, 2006 .
  5. ↑ Andre Zwick: andre natural world. Retrieved July 10, 2017 .

Web links

Commons : Blackberry Mother of Pearl  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files