Grass lily owl

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Grass lily owl
Common Lily Owl (Episema glaucina f. Dentimacula), male

Common Lily Owl ( Episema glaucina f. Dentimacula ), male

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family : Owl butterfly (Noctuidae)
Subfamily : Hadeninae
Genre : Episema
Type : Grass lily owl
Scientific name
Episema glaucina
( Esper , 1789)

The grass lily owl ( Episema glaucina ), sometimes also known as the changeable grass lily owl or grass lily bulb owl, is a butterfly ( moth ) from the family of the owl butterflies (Noctuidae).

features

butterfly

The wingspan of the moth is 26 to 34 millimeters. The coloring as well as the drawing of the upper side of the forewing reaches an extraordinarily extensive range of variation. In this way, butterflies with almost no drawings appear, as well as specimens with very clear drawing elements. In terms of color, the scale ranges from yellow to red to dark brown. In Central Europe, the color variant f. dentimacula predominant. In this case, the basic color of the upper side of the forewings is brown to dark red-brown. Ring, cone and kidney defects are large, ocher or cream-colored and connected by light-colored veins. The submarginal region as well as the inner and front margins are lightened. The upper sides of the hind wings are white-gray in the males and light brown-gray in the females. The strong ciliate antennae of the males are striking .

egg

The egg has a spherical shape. It is reddish to yellowish in color and is covered with many finely wavy longitudinal ribs.

Caterpillar

Adult caterpillars are cylindrical and have very few drawings, as they mostly live under the surface of the earth and adapt to their surroundings in color. They have a glassy brown color with a slight purple tinge. The back line stands out a little lighter. The stigmas are lined with white and black. There are dark brown spots on the sides of the head and neck shield.

Doll

The shiny red-brown colored doll has a short, compact shape and a very short, hook-shaped, downwardly curved fine cremaster .

Similar species

Due to the great variability in color of the grass lily owl, some of its forms can be distinguished from the species

often difficult based on external characteristics. A genital morphological examination is advisable for a reliable determination .

Geographical distribution and habitat

The species is distributed from northwest Africa through western and southern Europe to the Urals , but is absent in Fennoscandinavia and the British Isles . The main habitat are warm and dry meadow landscapes, abandoned vineyards and steppe heaths.

Way of life

The grass lily owl forms one generation per year. The moths fly from August to October. They are nocturnal and visit a number of artificial light sources , but rarely bait . The caterpillars feed on lily-like (Liliales), for example grass lilies ( Anthericum ), grape hyacinths ( Muscari ) and milk stars ( Ornithogalum ). In addition to the leaves and stems, they also feed on the tubers and bulbs of the food plants. The species overwinters in the ground as a caterpillar.

Danger

In Germany, the grass lily owl occurs in some areas in the south and southeast. On the Red List of Threatened Species , it is listed in category 2 (“critically endangered”), in Baden-Württemberg it is only classified as “endangered” (category 3).

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c László Ronkay, José Luis Yela & Márton Hreblay: Noctuidae Europaeae Volume 5 Hadeninae II. , Entomological Press, Sorø, 2001, ISBN 87-89430-06-9 , pp. 244/245
  2. ↑ caterpillar at pyrgus.de
  3. ↑ Walter Forster , Theodor A. Wohlfahrt : The butterflies of Central Europe. Volume 4: Owls. (Noctuidae). Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1971, ISBN 3-440-03752-5 , pp. 185-186.
  4. ↑ Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Ed.): Red List of Endangered Animals in Germany . Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster 1998, ISBN 3-89624-110-9 .
  5. ↑ Endangerment
  6. ↑ Günter Ebert (Ed.): The Butterflies of Baden-Württemberg Volume 6, Nachtfalter IV. Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1997 (Eulen (Noctuidae) 2nd part), ISBN 3-800-13482-9 , pp. 484-489

literature

  • László Ronkay, José Luis Yela & Márton Hreblay: Noctuidae Europaeae Volume 5 Hadeninae II. , Entomological Press, Sorø, 2001, ISBN 87-89430-06-9 , pp. 244/245
  • Günter Ebert (Ed.): The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg Volume 6, Nachtfalter IV. Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1997 (Eulen (Noctuidae) 2nd part), ISBN 3-800-13482-9 , pp. 484-489

Web links

Commons : Lilac Owl  - Collection of images, videos and audio files