Cardinal (butterfly)

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cardinal
Cardinal (Argynnis pandora)

Cardinal ( Argynnis pandora )

Systematics
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family : Noble butterfly (Nymphalidae)
Subfamily : Passion flower butterfly (Heliconiinae)
Tribe : Mother-of-Pearl Butterfly (Argynnini)
Genre : Argynnis
Type : cardinal
Scientific name
Argynnis Pandora
( Denis & Schiffermüller , 1775)

The cardinal ( Argynnis pandora ) is a butterfly (day butterfly ) from the noble butterfly family (Nymphalidae). It is also known as the green silver line. The specific epithet is derived from Pandora , a woman from Greek mythology created by Zeus .

features

The moths reach a wingspan of 64 to 80 millimeters. The upper sides of the wings are colored orange and have a pattern of black spots. The underside of the forewing has a striking pink discus. The females are sometimes colored brown instead of orange. The upper sides of the hind wings have a slightly greenish tinge, which is also pronounced on the underside. In addition, the rear wing undersides of the females have silvery bands on the outer edge and about the third of the wing. The band near the base of the wing only extends to about the middle of the wing, the others extend over the entire wing. These bandages are only weakly indicated in the males. The butterfly resembles the imperial mantle ( Argynnis paphia ), but can be easily distinguished by the different course of the bandages, the pink-red disc and the dull green color of the hind wings.

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Caterpillar

The body of the caterpillar is black with orange stripes and spines.

Similar species

Synonyms

  • Papilio pandora ( Denis & Schiffermüller , 1775)
  • Pandoriana pandora ( Denis & Schiffermüller , 1775)
  • Papilio maja ( Cramer , 1776)
  • Pandoriana maja ( Cramer , 1776)

Occurrence

The cardinal occurs mainly in southern Europe and is not native to Germany. In Switzerland , the species is known from the Valais between Martigny and Sierre and in Ticino from Lugano and Cimalmotto . It is believed that these are immigrants from the south. The cardinal is also distributed over the Canary Islands , the Balearic Islands and the Iberian Peninsula as well as over the Mediterranean and Western Asia to northwest India at altitudes of up to 2600 meters. He settles among other things clearings lined with bushes in deciduous and open pine forests, in which or in the vicinity of which there is a wide range of nectar-rich plants from the genera Cirsium , Carduus or Centaurea . The cardinal's most northerly documented find comes from Müllheim ( Baden ) by Max Standfuß in 1893. The specimen copy is kept in the State Museum of Natural History in Karlsruhe . On August 2, 2013, J. Asal managed to find another female at 630 m altitude in Todtnau -Schlechtnau in the southern Black Forest . In Austria the species could be observed on the slopes of the eastern break edge of the Alps near Wöllersdorf-Steinabrückl and in eastern Lower Austria.

Way of life

The forage plants of the caterpillars include various species from the genus of violets ( Viola ), for example the Teide violet ( Viola cheiranthifolia ) on Tenerife . Eggs are laid on wilted plants, rarely also on plants shaded by thick vegetation. The species overwinters as a young caterpillar.

Flight and caterpillar times

In almost all of Europe, the cardinal forms a generation a year that flies from mid-May to early July. In north-west Africa two generations can be observed each year, from May to June and from August to the end of September. Several generations emerge in the Canary Islands from late May to mid-September.

status

The species is quite common in localized areas.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Arnold Spuler: The butterflies of Europe . tape 1 . E. Schweitzerbartsche Verlagbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1908, p. 31 .
  2. ↑ a b Elizabeth Balmer: Butterflies: Recognize and determine. Parragon Books, 2007, ISBN 9781407512037 , p. 120
  3. ^ A b c Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa , Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-440-07573-7
  4. ↑ Günter Ebert (Ed.): The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg Volume 1, Tagfalter I (Ritterfalter (Papilionidae), Weißlinge (Pieridae), Edelfalter (Nymphalidae)), Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1993. ISBN 3-8001-3451-9
  5. ^ Lepiforum: Argynnis pandora
  6. ^ Rudolf Eis: Colias erate (ESPER 1804) and Pandoriana pandora (DENIS & SCHIFFERMÜLLER 1775) in eastern Lower Austria (Lepidoptera) . Entomological news sheet, 1st volume, 1994 PDF

Web links

Commons : Cardinal  album with pictures, videos and audio files