Hooded grass owl

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Hooded grass owl
Hooded grass owl (Mythimna ferrago)

Hooded grass owl ( Mythimna ferrago )

Systematics
Superfamily : Noctuoidea
Family : Owl butterfly (Noctuidae)
Subfamily : Hadeninae
Genre : Mythimna
Subgenus : Hyphilar
Type : Hooded grass owl
Scientific name
Mythimna ferrago
( Fabricius , 1787)
Slightly lighter copy

The Hooded Grass Owl ( Mythimna ferrago ), also known as the Shiny White -Spotted Owl or Fresh-Lawn White-Spotted Owl, is a butterfly ( moth ) from the owl butterfly family (Noctuidae).

features

The moths reach a wingspan of 36 to 41 millimeters. Mm. The moths of the 2nd generation formed in climatically favorable regions are significantly smaller than the moths of the first generation. The basic color of the forewings is pale gray-yellow to rust-red. Cold forms are rather weaker red with a gray tinge, warm forms are more yellow-red to rust-red. The front, slightly wavy transverse line, drawn in dark brown, is almost always incomplete, the middle part is always drawn a little stronger. The outer, strongly jagged transverse line is drawn very finely and darkly and bends sharply back towards the inner edge. It is often reduced to a series of points; the points sit on the wing veins. The apical line and wavy line are usually only indicated in the form of a shadow or almost absent. The kidney defect is crescent-shaped. The half facing the front edge is lighter than the base color, the half facing the inner edge is whitish. This white point sits at the distal end of the middle cell. The kidney defect is surrounded by a darker shadow. The discal stain is missing. The wing veins are almost always clearly visible. The hind wings are dark gray and become lighter towards the Kostalrand. The fringes are also noticeably lighter than the basic color. The male can be identified by a triangular field consisting of black hair on the underside of the abdomen.

The egg is spherical and slightly flattened at the base. It is smooth and white on the outside.

The brown-yellow caterpillar has a light, dark-edged topline. The secondary back lines are narrow, white and bordered by a brown or black line towards the back. The lateral stripes are whitish and relatively wide, the stigmas black. The belly is colored yellow-gray and dotted with black. The yellow-brown head has a dark grid pattern. It grows to be 38 to 43 millimeters long.

The stocky, relatively thick doll is colored red-brown. On the rounded cremaster, it has two curved, pointed bristles and four shorter, hook-shaped bristles.

Similar species

The hooded grass owl is very similar to the white-point grass owl ( Mythimna albipuncta ) and is often not easy to distinguish when it has flown away. This usually has clearer transverse lines and the kidney flaw is reduced to the white spot.

Geographical distribution and habitat

The distribution area of ​​the species extends from northwest Africa ( Morocco ), across southern, central, northern and eastern Europe, Asia Minor , Iraq , the Caucasus region , central Asia to Tibet and the Altai . The northern border of the area reaches northern Scotland and southern Fennoscandinavia (up to about 63 ° latitude). In southern Europe, the species occurs as far as southern Italy and southern Greece. It is also native to the large Mediterranean islands.

The hooded grass owl lives in almost all grassy habitats from dry, warm grassy slopes to cool, moist meadows near moors and the banks of bodies of water. It even occurs on forest paths, clearings and aisles in forests as well as in localities and cultivated land. In the Alps it rises to 1700 meters (or over 2000 m).

Way of life

The hooded grass owl forms one or two generations per year, whose moths fly from June to August or May to June and from July to September. The second generation seems to be formed exclusively south of the Alps, since in Baden-Württemberg there is probably only one generation per year. The moths are exclusively nocturnal, are strongly attracted by artificial light sources and also get the bait . They visit flowers and suck nectar. The eggs are laid in a row or two in a folded or rolled sheet. The caterpillars hatch after about a week. The caterpillars feed on grasses and herbaceous plants . They hide on the ground during the day and crawl up their food plants at night to feed. The following are mentioned for host plants:

The caterpillars overwinter. Pupation takes place in a loose cocoon in the earth.

Systematics and taxonomy

The species was first scientifically described in 1775 by Johann Christian Fabricius in 1787 as Noctua ferrago . The type material came from the area around Kiel. There are at least six synonyms for this taxon, one of which lithargyria Esper, 1788 (also lithargyrea ) found widespread use in the literature. It appears in the combinations Leucania lithargyria and Hyphilare lithargyria . The genus Hyphilare Hübner, 1821 is now only interpreted as a subgenus of Mythimna . The (sub) genus Ferrathimna Beck, 1999 is a more recent, objective synonym of Tiliecea Tutt, 1896. It is the type species of the genus Tiliacea Tutt, 1896 and the (sub) genus Ferrathimna Beck, 1999. Some authors subdivide the genus Mythimna in subgenera. In this sub-genus, ferrago Fabricius is placed in the sub-genus Mythimna (Hyphilare) Hübner, 1821.

Two subspecies are currently known:

  • Mythimna ferrago ferrago , the nominate subspecies in the greater part of the range
  • Mythimna ferrago caliginata Hreblay, 1999, Pakistan , darker, often blackish base color of the forewings

The meridionalis Dannehl, formerly regarded as a subspecies , 1926 (southern Alpine valleys) was discovered by Hacker et al. (2002) reunited with the nominate subspecies and only interpreted as a color variation.

Danger

The hooded grass owl is not considered endangered in Germany.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Red List at Science4you
  2. ↑ a b Bergmann (1954: p. 371/2) (as Hyphilare lithargyria )
  3. ↑ a b Hacker et al. (2002: p. 190/1)
  4. ↑ a b c d e Forster & Wohlfahrt (1971: p. 97/8)
  5. ↑ a b Ahola & Silvonen (2009: p. 445/6)
  6. ↑ Butterflies and their ecology - Website by Wolfgang Wagner
  7. ↑ Ebert and Steiner (1998: pp. 260–63)
  8. ^ Johann Christian Fabricius: Mantissa insectorum sistens eorum species nuper detectas adiectis characteribus genericis, differentiis specificis, emendationibus, observationibus. Tom. II, Hafniae, Impensis CG Proft, 1787. Online at www.biodiversitylibrary.org (description by Noctua ferrago p. 160)
  9. ↑ Natural History Museum - Butterflies and Moths of the World Generic Names and their Type-species

literature

  • Matti Ahola and Kimmo Silvonen: Larvae of Northern European Noctuidae. Vol. 2. 672 pp., 2008 ISBN 978-952-92-2888-1
  • Arno Bergmann: The large butterflies of Central Germany. Volume 4/1: Owls. Distribution, forms and communities. Urania-Verlag, Jena 1954, DNB 450378373 .
  • Günter Ebert, Axel Steiner: The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg Volume 7, Nachtfalter V (Owls (Noctuidae) 3rd part), Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1998. ISBN 3-800-13500-0
  • Walter Forster , Theodor A. Wohlfahrt : The butterflies of Central Europe. Volume 4: Owls. (Noctuidae). Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1971, ISBN 3-440-03752-5 .
  • Hermann Hacker, László Ronkay & Márton Hreblay: Noctuidae Europaeae vol. 4 Hadeninae I . Entomological Press, Sorø 2002 ISBN 87-894-30-07-7

Web links

Commons : Mythimna ferrago  - Collection of images, videos and audio files