Heather spotted leaves

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Heather spotted leaves
Heather spotted moth (Dyscia fagaria)

Heather spotted moth ( Dyscia fagaria )

Systematics
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family : Spanner (Geometridae)
Subfamily : Ennominae
Tribe : Aspitatini
Genre : Dyscia
Type : Heather spotted leaves
Scientific name
Dyscia fagaria
( Thunberg , 1784)

The heather fleckenspanner ( Dyscia fagaria ) is a butterfly ( moth ) from the family of the Spanner (Geometridae).

features

butterfly

The wingspan of the moths is 31 to 40 millimeters, with the females being slightly smaller. The basic color of the wings varies from whitish to gray-brown. The outer transverse line on the forewings is made up of dark spots and is strong. The inner transverse line is similar to the outer one, but is only faintly indicated in some specimens. The center point stands out clearly. The dark outer transverse line of the forewings continues in a weakened form on the hind wings. Here, too, the center point is clearly pronounced. The hems of all the wings are finely dotted with black.

Egg, caterpillar, pupa

The egg has an elongated oval, slightly flattened shape. It is initially light yellow in color and later takes on gray-brown or gray-purple tints.

Adult caterpillars are dark brown, reddish brown or grayish brown in color, show an interrupted whitish back line and are marbled gray on the sides. At the end of the body there is an anal hump and two anal processes. A white line on the feet in front of the pushers is characteristic .

The doll is elongated and has a short cremaster .

Similar species

Very light-colored specimens of the heather moth are similar to other Dyscia species, especially Dyscia conspersaria and Dyscia raunaria . In these species , however, the transverse lines and center points are less pronounced.

distribution and habitat

The species occurs predominantly in northern Central Europe and eastwards to the Urals . It predominantly inhabits sand heather areas.

Way of life

The heather spotted spider usually forms one generation per year, the moths of which can be found in May and June. They become active when it gets dark, but appear only occasionally at night when exposed to artificial light sources . The caterpillars live on heather ( Erica ), in Germany they take heather ( Calluna vulgaris ) as a food crop.

Danger

The heather spotted spider is listed in Germany in category 1 (of extinction) on the red list of endangered species .

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Walter Forster, Theodor A. Wohlfahrt: The butterflies of Central Europe. Volume 5: Spanner. (Geometridae). Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-440-04951-5 .
  2. ↑ a b c Robert Trusch, Jörg Gelbrecht & Hartmut Wegner: Distribution, biology and ecology of Dyscia fasgaria (Thunberg, 1784) in Germany with an overview of the entire area of ​​the species (Lep., Geometridae, Ennominae) , Entomologische Nachrichten undberichte , 40 , 1996/1 online (PDF; 827 kB)
  3. ↑ Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Ed.): Red List of Endangered Animals in Germany . Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster 1998, ISBN 3-89624-110-9 .

literature

  • Robert Trusch & Sven Erlacher: Taxonomic changes in the genus Dyscia (Lepidoptera: Geometridae: Ennominae) , European Journal of Entomology, 2003 [1] (PDF; 148 kB)
  • Walter Forster , Theodor A. Wohlfahrt : The butterflies of Central Europe. Volume 5: Spanner. (Geometridae). Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-440-04951-5 .
  • Günter Ebert (Ed.): The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg. Volume 9. Moths VII. Geometridae 2nd part. 1st edition. Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2003, ISBN 3-8001-3279-6 .
  • Manfred Koch , Wolfgang Heinicke, Bernd Müller: We determine butterflies. Volume 4: Spanner. 2nd, improved and enlarged edition. Neumann, Leipzig / Radebeul 1976, DNB 780451570 .

Web links

Commons : Heather Fleckenspanner  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files