Bright sickle-winged
| Bright sickle-winged | ||||||||||||
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Light sickle-winged ( Drepana falcataria ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Drepana falcataria | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The light sickle-winged ( Drepana falcataria ), also known as the common sickle-winged , is a butterfly from the family of the owl moth and sickle-winged (Drepanidae).
features
The moths reach a wingspan of 27 to 35 millimeters. They have light brown or white-brown to red-brown forewings, which have a fine, regular pattern and dark, fine serrated bands. You have a dark eye spot in the middle. Under the sickle or on the outer part of the outer edge of the wing, they have a purple shade. A clearly curved, dark brown band runs from the wing tip under the spot to the inner edge of the wing. The hind wings are also colored light brown, but are lighter than the forewings. Their pattern is similar to that of the forewings, but not as strong. The hind wings of the females are white with the same dark pattern.
The caterpillars are about 20 millimeters long. They are colored poisonous green and have a broad brown patterned back and head, which also has yellowish horizontal stripes. Your abdomen is strongly narrowed to a corner. Between the second and fifth segments there are brown pairs of wart-like cusps on the back. Isolated thin, white hairs grow on the green areas. On the browns these are black.
Occurrence
They occur in central and northern Europe , south to the Pyrenees and central Italy , east to the Urals . They live in light and damp deciduous forests with birch and alder stands . They particularly prefer alluvial and swamp forests on the edge of moors , but they are also found in parks and gardens. They are common and common.
Way of life
The animals sit on leaves or tree trunks during the day and only fly at night.
Flight and caterpillar times
The moths fly in two generations from late April to mid-June and from early July to late August. The caterpillars from the eggs of the first generation are found from August to the end of October, those of the second in June of the following year. In favorable years one can also observe a third, incomplete generation. At high altitudes, the species flies in just one generation in July.
Food of the caterpillars
The caterpillars feed mainly on black alder ( Alnus glutinosa ) and silver birch ( Betula pendula ), but they are also found on other deciduous trees . They prefer young plants.
development
The females lay their eggs in a row of up to 10 on top of leaves. The caterpillars each fold a leaf and spin the two edges tightly, thereby forming a protective shelter in which they hide during the day. When they have mostly eaten the leaf, they switch to the next one and build a new home. When they sense danger, they knock on the inside of the house, making a ticking sound. They pupate in their leaf after separating that part of the leaf from the rest of the leaf except for one or two connections. The early generation hatches in the same year, the later one falls to the ground with the leaf, hibernates there and only hatches in the next spring.
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ Manfred Koch : We identify butterflies. Volume 2: Bears, Spinners, Swarmers and Drills in Germany. 2nd, expanded edition. Neumann, Radebeul / Berlin 1964, DNB 452481929 , p. 100f.
literature
- Heiko Bellmann : The new Kosmos butterfly guide. Butterflies, caterpillars and forage plants. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-440-09330-1 .
- Günter Ebert (Ed.): The Butterflies of Baden-Württemberg Volume 4, Moths II (Bombycidae, Endromidae, Lemoniidae, Saturniidae, Sphingidae, Drepanidae, Notodontidae, Dilobidae, Lymantriidae, Ctenuchidae, Nolidae). Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1994. ISBN 3-800-13474-8
- Hans-Josef Weidemann, Jochen Köhler: Moths. Weirdos and hawkers. Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1996, ISBN 3-89440-128-1 .
Web links
- Lepiforum e. V. Taxonomy and Photos
- www.schmetterling-raupe.de
- www.insektenbox.de
- Ian Kimber: Guide to the moths of Great Britain and Ireland (English)
- Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa (English)
- Drepana falcataria at Fauna Europaea