Yellow bear
| Yellow bear | ||||||||||||
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Yellow bear ( Arctia flavia ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Arctia flavia | ||||||||||||
| ( Fuessly , 1779) |
The yellow bear or Engadine bear ( Arctia flavia ) is a butterfly ( moth ) from the subfamily of the bear moth (Arctiinae).
features
The moths reach a wingspan of 50 to 70 millimeters. On their forewings , very large black spots with a white border are visible. Their hind wings are yellow ocher or light orange. There are black spots on them too. They have black fur around their heads. Her abdomen , which has a crest of black dots on the top, is red, only the rearmost tip is black.
The caterpillars are black and have silver-gray hairs that later turn a little brownish.
Occurrence
They occur in the Alps above the tree line on alpine mats and close to bodies of water and prefer to be below glaciated zones. They fly from late July to late August.
Way of life
Both the moths and the caterpillars are nocturnal. The caterpillars spend the day under rocks and eat at night polyphag various kinds of herbs , especially cotoneaster ( Cotoneaster ).
Development path
The eggs are relatively large and are laid next to the abandoned pupae of the females. The hatching caterpillars overwinter twice before they pupate . After the second winter, the caterpillars still eat for about three to four weeks before they pupate. They do this under sunlit stone slabs in order to use the stored heat.
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literature
- Hans-Josef Weidemann, Jochen Köhler: Moths. Weirdos and hawkers. Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1996, ISBN 3-89440-128-1 .
Web links
- Lepiforum e. V. Photos and taxonomy
- Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa (English)
- Arctia flavia in Fauna Europaea