Flea herb owl

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Flea herb owl
Fleaweed Owl (Melanchra persicariae)

Fleaweed Owl ( Melanchra persicariae )

Systematics
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Superfamily : Noctuoidea
Family : Owl butterfly (Noctuidae)
Subfamily : Hadeninae
Genre : Melanchra
Type : Flea herb owl
Scientific name
Melanchra persicariae
( Linnaeus , 1761)
Flea-Owl caterpillar in the final stage of development on nettle

The flea herb owl ( Melanchra persicariae ) is a butterfly ( moth ) from the family of the owl butterflies (Noctuidae).

features

butterfly

The moth has a wingspan of 28 to 38 mm. The basic color of the forewings is black-brown with gray and ocher spots. The transverse lines and the ring flaws are often indistinct or even gone. If the transverse lines are recognizable, they are darker than the basic color, the flaws, on the other hand, have a light border. The kidney defects are almost always clearly developed, filled with white. However, there is the unicolor form with almost black kidney blemishes. The Forma accipitrina has brown-filled kidney defects. The wavy line is sometimes broken up into yellow dots. The hind wings are light brown.

egg

The egg is spherical, flattened at the bottom. It is initially greenish yellow, later it becomes grayish brown. Outside it is covered with longitudinal ribs.

Caterpillar

The caterpillar is either light green or light brown. It has a hump on the 11th segment and a narrow, light back line. It has dark spots on the sides on the 4th, 5th and 11th segments. Segments 6 to 10 have angled spots open to the front. The head is greenish or brownish. The adult caterpillar grows to 45 mm long.

Doll

The doll is dark red-brown with a short cremaster . This is covered with two short but strong bristles.

Geographical distribution and habitat

The distribution area extends from Spain in the west to Korea and Japan . The northern border runs from Scotland through southern Fennoscandia , central Russia and southern Siberia to the Kamchatka Peninsula . The southern border runs through northern Spain, Italy (except Sicily ), Macedonia , Bulgaria , Asia Minor , the southern Caucasus region , northern Iran , through central Asia and northern China to Korea. The species inhabits moist mixed forests , birch forests, valleys with densely wooded valley slopes, swampy forests. In the vertical , the species occurs from the lowlands to the highest elevations of the low mountain ranges; in the Alps up to about 1000 m.

Way of life

The flea-herb owl forms one generation a year, whose moths fly from late May to late August, in cooler regions not until June. In favorable years and climatically favored areas, an incomplete second generation is formed, whose moths fly from late August to September. Some authors report that even a third generation is formed in favorable areas. On the other hand, Hacker et al. Write that the species is “ univoltin ” in its range . The moths suckle on flowers (e.g. butterfly lilac ( Buddleja davidii )). They are nocturnal and come to artificial light sources.

The caterpillars can be found from July to September. They are extremely polyphagous and feed on many different herbaceous plants and bushes. Axel Steiner and Günther Ebert list 38 caterpillars food plants: bracken ( Pteridium aquilinum ), male fern ( Dryopteris filix-mas ), Tradescantia ( Tradescantia sp.), Basket willow ( Salix viminalis ), goat willow ( Salix caprea ), European hazel ( Corylus avellana ), silver birch ( Betula pendula ), black alder ( Alnus glutinosa ), common beech ( Fagus sylvatica ), field elm ( Ulmus minor ), great nettle ( Urtica dioica ), spiked St. John's wort ( Actaea spicata ), raspberry ( Rubus idaeus ), Blackberries ( Rubus fruticosus ), lupins ( Lupinus sp.), Broom broom ( Sarothamnus scoparius ), yellow sweet clover ( Melilotus officinalis ), sycamore maple ( Acer pseudoplatanus ), buckthorn ( Frangula alnus ), purple loosestrife ( Lythrum salicaria ), fireweed ( Epilobium sp.), various Umbelliferae ( Apiaceae ), goutweed ( Aegopodium podagraria ) Wiesensilge ( Silaum silaus ), Wild Angelica ( Angelica sylvestris ), hogweed ( Heracleum sphondylium ), blueberry ( Vaccinium myrti llus ) Hedge Woundwort ( Stachys sylvatica ), Figwort ( Scrophularia nodosa ), black elderberry ( Sambucus nigra ), honeysuckle ( Lonicera xylosteum ), Senecio ovatus ( Senecio ovatus ), cabbage thistle ( Cirsium oleraceum ), creeping thistle ( Cirsium arvense ), common dandelion ( Taraxacum sect. Ruderalia), wall lettuce ( Mycelis muralis ), hare lettuce ( Prenanthes purpurea ), Savoy hawkweed ( Hieracium sabaudium ). Hacker et al. also name the genera bird knotweed ( Polygonum ), report ( Atriplex ), Rubus , gorse ( Genista ) and goat clover ( Cytisus ). They pupate in autumn; the pupa hibernates.

Systematics

The species was first scientifically described by Carl von Linné in 1761 as Phalaena Noctua persicariae . Johann Siegfried Hufnagel described the species in 1766 under the name Phalaena sambuci . Other names are Phalaena graphica Geoffroy , 1785, Phalaena Noctua accipitrina Esper , 1788, Mamestra unicolor Staudinger , 1871 and Polia japonibia Bryk , 1942; they are younger synonyms of Melanchra persicariae . The species is the type species of the genus Melanchra Hübner , 1820.

Danger

The species is considered not endangered in Germany.

swell

literature

  • Heiko Bellmann : The new cosmos butterfly guide. 445 pp., Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-440-09330-1
  • Günter Ebert (ed.), Axel Steiner: The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg Volume 7, moths V (Eulen (Noctuidae) 3rd part), Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1998. ISBN 3-8001-3500-0
  • Hermann Hacker, Lázló Ronkay, Márton Hreblay: Hadeninae I.- Noctuidae Europaeae, Volume 4. , Sorø, 2002, ISBN 87-89430-07-7

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ after Hacker et al., Pp. 68/9
  2. ↑ Forster & Wohlfahrt, p. 72.
  3. ↑ Red Lists of the FRG

Web links

Commons : Fleaweed Owl  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files