Hamadryas feronia
| Hamadryas feronia | ||||||||||||
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Hamadryas feronia |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Hamadryas feronia | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
Hamadryas feronia is a butterfly ( butterfly ) fromthe noble butterfly family (Nymphalidae). The male moths can make cracking noises.
features
butterfly
The wingspan of the moth is 73 to 83 millimeters. The top of all wings is marbled blue-gray to gray-brown and covered with whitish spots. On the forewings there is a red, S-shaped curved small spot in the disk region near the anterior margin. In the submarginal region , a series of brightly nucleated eye spots stand out. The underside of the wing shows a creamy white basic color and is provided with black-brown drawing elements. The red spot on the upper side of the forewings shimmers through in a weakened form. There is an elongated white spot near the apex .
Caterpillar, pupa
Adult caterpillars usually have a brownish color and are finely marbled blackish. A few long and branched thorns stand out clearly on the light back. In the area of the spiracles there are white and pink spots and short yellowish thorns. The head has two toothed horns.
The doll shows two long tips on the head.
Similar species
- Hamadryas guatemalena is distinguished by the more pronounced pattern of white spots on the underside of the forewings close to the apex.
- Hamadryas iphthime lacks the red S-shaped spot on the forewings .
Geographical distribution and habitat
Hamadryas feronia occurs from Texas to the south mainly in Central America and parts of South America and prefers to colonize tropical open terrain with a single tree population. In Costa Rica the subspecies Hamadryas feronia farinulenta can be found from sea level up to 1400 meters.
Way of life
The moths fly in several generations throughout the year in tropical regions, in Texas from August to November. They like to suckle on overripe fruit to ingest food, but not on flowers. The caterpillars feed on the leaves of various milkweed plants (Euphorbiaceae), u. a. Dalechampia triphylla with ssp. stenosepala , D. tiliifolia and D. scandens .
Special properties
When flying, the male moths produce a clicking or cracking noise, which is why the genus Hamadryas is also known as "crackers" in English. The tones can be used to impress females, drive away competing males, deter predators or to mark the territory acoustically. According to Scott , they are created by striking the thorny spouts at the end of the male abdomen with the thorny blades below . The research by Yack et al. and Monge-Najera et al. say, however, that the sound is generated by flapping wings. Further investigations are required to finally clarify the exact location of the sound source and its preferred application. The maximum value of the frequency spectrum of the noises lasting up to 0.5 seconds is specified in the range between 13 and 15 kHz. The sound pressure level ten cm from the source was measured to be 80 to 100 dB . The moths perceive the sounds by means of a chordotonal organ , the Vogel's organ , located at the base of the forewings .
Subspecies
- Hamadryas feronia feronia ( Brazil , Paraguay , Peru )
- Hamadryas feronia farinulenta ( Mexico , Honduras , Venezuela , Colombia , Trinidad )
Individual evidence
- ^ Butterflies and Moths of North America - Attributes of Hamadryas feronia
- ↑ Image of the caterpillar ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d James A. Scott: The Butterflies of North America. , Pp. 267, 269, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California 1986, ISBN 0-8047-1205-0
- ^ Lepidoptera and some other life forms - Hamadryas feronia
- ^ Philip J. De Vries: The butterflies of Costa Rica and their natural history . Princeton University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-691-08420-3 , pp. 139 .
- ^ Encyclopedia of Life - Hamadryas feronia Variable Cracker
- ↑ Jayne E. Yack, L. Daniel Otero, Jeff W. Dawson, Annemarie Surlykke, James H. Fullard: Sound Production and Hearing in the Blue Cracker Butterfly Hamadryas Feronia (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae) from Venezuela , The Journal of Experimental Biology 203, 2000, pp. 3689-3702 PDF
- ↑ Julián Monge-Najera: A morphological search for the sound mechanism of Hamadryas butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) , Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 30 (3-4), 1991, pp. 196-208 PDF ( Memento des Originals from 26. February 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Richard Vogel: About the chordotonal organs in the root of the butterfly wing. , Journal for Scientific Zoology, Leipzig, 1912
literature
- James A. Scott: The Butterflies of North America. Stanford University Press, Stanford, California 1986, ISBN 0-8047-1205-0
