Heilziest thick-headed butterfly

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Heilziest thick-headed butterfly
Carcharodus flocciferus (Hesperiidae) (Tufted Marbled Skipper), Rhemes-Saint-Georges (Comuni), Italy - 2.jpg

Heilziest thick-headed butterfly ( Carcharodus flocciferus )

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family : Thick-headed butterfly (Hesperiidae)
Subfamily : Pyrginae
Genre : Carcharodus
Type : Heilziest thick-headed butterfly
Scientific name
Carcharodus flocciferus
( Zeller , 1847)

The Heilziest-Dickkopf-butterfly ( Carcharodus flocciferus ), also just called Heilziest-Dickkopf or Marshmallow butterfly , is a butterfly from the family of the Dickkopffalter (Hesperiidae).

features

The fore wing length is 14 to 16 millimeters. The upper side is dark gray-brown with dark marbling and with a band formed from dark lines over the forewings in front of the glassy cell stain. On the hind wings there are discal spots, post-disc spots and light basal spots. The underside of the forewings is light gray-brown with white marginal lines on thick, dark tufts of hair. The whitish lines and the discoidal spot are clearly developed. The hind wing underside is gray-brown with indistinct white spots, including small white spots on the edge. Both sexes have the same wing markings, but the female has no hair.

The eggs are flattened at the bottom and very strongly ribbed, especially at the top.

The relatively compact caterpillars are initially rather gray with a black head. Later they get a little lighter. They are very hairy.

The pupa has strong blue frosting with a black longitudinal stripe on the back of the thorax.

Geographical occurrence and habitat

The Heilziest thick-headed butterfly is distributed from Morocco , Spain through southern and southeastern Europe to the Caucasus and western Central Asia. In the north the distribution area extends to southern Germany, Slovakia and southern Poland. The occurrences are spotty. In the Rif Mountains the species can be found from 1500 to about 2000 meters. In southern Germany it can be found in the hill range from about 400 to 600 meters. It can be found in the Italian Maritime Alps up to 2200 meters above sea level. The habitat of the Heilziest thick-headed butterfly is rather wet meadows with lean vegetation, in the Alps also low-growing areas in boggy meadows. Otherwise it is also indicated: flowery grassy slopes, gorges, also forest clearings and other, less overgrown, humid areas.

Way of life

The moths fly in two generations from May, June or late July to September. In the higher mountain regions there is only one generation between June and August. The eggs are laid one at a time on top of the host plants. The caterpillar lives on Alpine concrete ( Stachys hirsuta ) in the Alps . For the Lake Constance area, Ebert et al. Heil-Ziest ( Stachys officinalis ) as a host plant. Toman & Lewington (1998) give for Europe Upright Ziest ( Stachys recta ), Alpine Ziest ( Stachys alpina ), Heilziest ( Stachys officinalis ), German Ziest ( Stachys germanica ), Swamp Ziest ( Stachys palustris ), Forest Ziest ( Stachys sylvatica ) and star-haired ziest ( Stachys scardica ). The last stages of the caterpillars use leaves of the food plant to make a tent in which to feed. The Heilziest thick-headed butterfly overwinters as a small caterpillar.

Systematics and nomenclature

The systematics and nomenclature of this species are intricate. Carcharodus flocciferus was first scientifically described in 1803 by Jacob Huebner under the name Papilio altheae . However, this name is already given by Papilio althaeae Esper, 1783 and is therefore invalid. The first valid name for this species was published in 1847 by Philipp Christoph Zeller as Hesperia floccifera . The type locality of its material is Sicily . Another description followed in 1936 under the name alchymillae by Arthur Francis Hemming . In 1934 he first replaced the Hübner homonym with Carcharodus imperator and overlooked Zeller's description. In a later work he found an older Huebner name in a work that was never published. The name Carcharodus alchymillae must be attributed to Hemming (1936). With Hesperia gemina Lederer, 1852 yet another exists synonym for this type.

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literature

  • Lionel G. Higgins, Norman D. Riley: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa . 1st edition. Paul Parey, Hamburg / Berlin 1978, ISBN 3-490-01918-0 .
  • Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-440-07573-7 .
  • Butterflies. 2. Special part: Satyridae, Libytheidae, Lycaenidae, Hesperiidae . In: Günter Ebert, Erwin Rennwald (eds.): The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg . 1st edition. tape 2 . Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 1991, ISBN 3-8001-3459-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c after Wolfgang Wagner [1]
  2. ↑ a b c Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-440-07573-7 , p. 265/6 .
  3. ^ A b Lionel G. Higgins, Norman D. Riley: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa . 1st edition. Paul Parey, Hamburg / Berlin 1978, ISBN 3-490-01918-0 , pp. 290 .
  4. ↑ Butterfly. 2. Special part: Satyridae, Libytheidae, Lycaenidae, Hesperiidae . In: Günter Ebert, Erwin Rennwald (eds.): The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg . 1st edition. tape 2 . Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 1991, ISBN 3-8001-3459-4 , pp. 458-464 .
  5. ↑ Rienk de Jong: Notes on the genus Carcharodus (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae). Zoologische Mededelingen, 48 (1): 1-9, Leiden 1974 PDF

Web links

Commons : Heilziest-Dickkopffalter ( Carcharodus flocciferus )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files