Glacier Bear
| Glacier Bear | ||||||||||||
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Glacier bear ( Grammia quenseli ) |
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| Grammia quenseli | ||||||||||||
| ( Paykull , 1791) |
The glacier bear ( Grammia quenseli ) is a butterfly ( moth ) from the subfamily of the bear moth (Arctiinae).
description
The moths reach a wingspan of 26 to 42 millimeters. Their forewings are black with wing veins of different widths, drawn in light yellow . In the females these veins are more richly colored. The hind wings are dark gray to black and have a somewhat stronger yellow markings at the end.
The caterpillars are about 30 millimeters long. They are black and have a fine, light topline. They have black warts on the back and yellow on the sides, from each of which a tuft of dense, thick hair arises. The hair is blackish-gray on the back, light on the sides and tending to reddish-brown towards the bottom.
Similar species
- Plantain bear ( Parasemia plantaginis )
Occurrence
The animals occur in Central Europe in the Central Alps between 2000 and 2700 m on grassy alpine mats and scree fields and are very rare. They are also found in northern Scandinavia , but not in Germany .
Way of life
They are diurnal, but the females only fly in warm temperatures.
Food of the caterpillars
The caterpillars feed on the leaves of various lower alpine plants such as B .:
- Alpine lady's mantle ( Alchemilla alpina )
- Alpine plantain ( Plantago alpina )
In breeding they also like to eat the common dandelion ( Taraxacum sect. Ruderalia )
Development path
The females simply drop their eggs from the air. The caterpillars that hatch from it hide under stones during the day and only come out to eat at night. After they overwinter twice, they pupate in a very firm web interspersed with plant parts, unlike all other alpine bear moth species that pupate under stones.
See also
- Glacier bear , a subspecies of the American black bear
swell
literature
- Heiko Bellmann : The new Kosmos butterfly guide. Butterflies, caterpillars and forage plants. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-440-09330-1 .
Web links
- Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa (English)
- Fauna Europaea taxonomy