Black earth owl
| Black earth owl | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Euxoa nigricans , moth |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Euxoa (Euxoa) nigricans | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1761) |
The black earth owl ( Euxoa nigricans ), also called violet- black earth owl , barley owl or black owl, is a butterfly ( moth ) from the owl butterfly family (Noctuidae).
features
The moths reach a wingspan of 30 to 40 millimeters. The head, thorax, abdomen and front wings have a red-brown, dark red-brown, brown-black or almost black basic color. Ring flaws and kidney flaws , sometimes also the cone flaws , have a thin black border, the kidney flaw is often a little lighter than the basic color, sometimes filled in yellowish or outlined in a narrow whitish yellow. The inner and outer transverse lines have mostly disappeared, the wavy line is broken up into yellowish-white points or is missing. The hind wings are light brown, darker towards the edge and whitish towards the base. In the females they are darker than in the males. The antennae of the males are short-toothed, those of the females are thread-shaped.
The slightly flattened, otherwise approximately round eggs measure 0.7 to 0.75 mm in diameter and 0.5 mm in height. They are bright yellow in color and translucent. The surface has weak, wavy longitudinal ribs and somewhat weaker transverse ribs, which form a weak pattern of flattened, somewhat irregular hexagons.
The caterpillar is gray-green in color. It has a lighter, greenish central line on the back and point warts with whitish bristles. The head and pronotum are brown.
The doll is glossy brown. The cremaster has two thorns.
Similar species
Numerous species from the subfamily Noctuinae have the same dark basic color as Euxoa nigricans . As a rule, they can only be distinguished by professionals. In Europe, the following species in particular often give rise to confusion: Euxoa adumbrata (in Scandinavia and Northern Russia) and dark forms of Euxoa ochrogaster islandica , Euxoa tritici , Euxoa nigrofusca , Euxoa eruta , and - depending on the competence of the observer - also dark forms of Euxoa cursoria , Euxoa christophi , Agrotis segetum , Actebia fennica , Protexarnis squalida , Spaelotis ravida , Spaelotis senna , Spaelotis suecica and others.
Geographical distribution and habitat
Euxoa nigricans mainly inhabits the climatically temperate regions of Europe and Asia as well as the mountains of North Africa. It is absent in the polar regions, on Iceland and some Mediterranean islands (Balearic Islands, Malta, Greek Islands, Crete, Cyprus) and in Macaronesia (Azores, Madeira, Canaries).
The species colonizes open land habitats and prefers places with little ground cover and gaps in vegetation such as dry slopes, poor grasslands , pastures, edges and embankments. It also occurs in cultivated land (gardens, localities, agricultural steppes, ruderal areas, vineyards).
Way of life
The black earth owl forms one generation per year, whose moths fly from late June to late September with a frequency maximum in August. They are crepuscular and nocturnal, visit night-flowering plants to take in nectar and are attracted by artificial light sources. The eggs are laid in single-layer linear ribbons where they lie close together. The caterpillars overwinter in the egg and pupate in early summer. They live on and in the ground and feed on roots and leaves of various plants in the herbaceous layer , including cultivated and garden plants. They can also cause damage.
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ Red lists in Science4you
- ↑ Fibiger (1990: p. 41/2)
- ↑ a b Dolinskaya & Geryak (2010: p. 19)
- ^ Forster & Wohlfahrt (1971: p. 9)
literature
- Axel Steiner and Günter Ebert: The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg Volume 7, Nachtfalter V (Owls (Noctuidae) 3rd part), Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1998. ISBN 3-8001-3500-0
- Michael Fibiger: Noctuidae Europaeae, Volume 1, noctuinae I . Entomological Press, Sorø 1990, ISBN 87-89430-01-8
- Michael Fibiger: Noctuidae Europaeae, Volume 3, Noctuinae III. Entomological Press, Sorø, 1997, ISBN 8-789-43005-0
- Walter Forster , Theodor A. Wohlfahrt : The butterflies of Central Europe. Volume 4: Owls. (Noctuidae). Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1971, ISBN 3-440-03752-5 .
- IV Dolinskaya, Yu. A. Geryak: The Chorionic Sculpture of the Eggs of Some Noctuinae (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) from Ukraine. Vestnik zoologii, 44 (5): 421-432, 2010 doi : 10.2478 / v10058-010-0028-4
Web links
- www.lepiforum.de Pictures of different butterfly shapes (German)
- Euxoa nigricans at Fauna Europaea
- Guide to the moths of Great Britain and Ireland image of a red-brown moth
- Markku Savela: Lepidoptera and some other life forms Pictures of the dark forms