White-headed meadow bird
White-headed meadow bird | ||||||||||||
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White-headed meadow bird |
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Coenonympha arcania | ||||||||||||
( Linnaeus , 1761) |
The white-bound meadow bird or pearl grass butterfly ( Coenonympha arcania ) is a butterfly (day butterfly ) from the noble butterfly family (Nymphalidae).
description
The moths reach a wingspan of 28 to 35 millimeters. Their upper forewings are colored ocher to orange-brown and have a broad, dark border. The upper sides of the hind wings are dark brown. The undersides of the wings run away from the base of the wing from gray to orange. The back third is dominated by a wide, white band. These are bordered by several black eye spots that are core white and bordered in orange and black. They are very different in size. Four to five of them are surrounded by the bandage on the outer edge, another sits on the wing leading edge on the inward-facing side of the bandage. Between the row of eyespots and the edge of the wing there is a white-gray line following the contour of the wing edge. The undersides of the forewings are orange in color and slightly grayish on the edges. On each of them there is another eye spot near the wing tips. The wings are fringed with gray.
The caterpillars are about 20 millimeters long. They are green in color and have a strong white side stripe near their backs, but this is weakly pronounced. At the end of the abdomen, two white tips, pink at the tip, protrude backwards.
Similar species
- Forest meadow bird ( Coenonympha hero )
- Great meadow bird ( Coenonympha tullia )
- Stromtal meadow bird ( Coenonympha oedippus )
- Red-brown meadow bird ( Coenonympha glycerion )
- Alpine meadow bird ( Coenonympha gardetta )
Occurrence
The animals are found in Central and Eastern Europe , from northern Spain to southern Sweden and in southern Europe throughout mainland Italy and as far as Turkey . To the east it is found across temperate Asia to Transcaucasia . Depending on the temperature, they colonize an altitude of up to 1,800 meters. They can be found almost everywhere, preferring to live in sun-drenched and loose forests and on their edges and on bushy dry grass . But the populations are declining.
Way of life
The moths usually sit in sunny spots with their wings closed. To do this, they point their wing undersides directly towards the sun and therefore sit very diagonally.
Flight time
They fly annually in one generation from mid-May to mid-August.
Food of the caterpillars
The caterpillars feed on woolly honey grass ( Holcus lanatus ), real sheep fescue ( Festuca ovina ) and other types of sweet grass .
development
The females lay their eggs individually or in small groups on the stalks of the forage plants. The caterpillars overwinter young.
Hazard and protection
- Red list FRG: V (on the pre-warning list). They are also specially protected under the Federal Species Protection Ordinance in Germany.
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Heiko Bellmann : The new Kosmos butterfly guide. Butterflies, caterpillars and forage plants. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-440-09330-1 , p. 198.
- ↑ a b Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: Die Tagfalter Europäische und Nordwestafrikas , p. 241f, Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-440-07573-7
- ↑ Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Ed.): Red List of Endangered Animals in Germany. Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster 1998, ISBN 978-3-896-24110-8
literature
- Manfred Koch : We determine butterflies. Volume 1: Butterfly. 4th enlarged edition. Neumann, Radebeul / Berlin 1966, DNB 457244224 .
Web links
- Lepiforum e. V. Taxonomy and Photos
- Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa (English)
- www.schmetterling-raupe.de
- www.insektenbox.de
- Coenonympha arcania at Fauna Europaea