Pine processionary moth
| Pine processionary moth | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pine processionary moth ( Thaumetopoea pinivora ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Thaumetopoea pinivora | ||||||||||||
| ( Treitschke , 1834) |
The pine processionary moth ( Thaumetopoea pinivora , syn .: Traumatocampa pinivora ) is a butterfly ( moth ) from the tooth moth family (Notodontidae). As with other processionary moths , the stinging hairs of the caterpillars can trigger caterpillar dermatitis in humans when touched .
features
The moths have a wingspan of 30 to 40 millimeters, with the males being slightly smaller than the females. The front wings are colored whitish gray in both sexes; in the male they are a little rust-red, in the female they have yellowish scales. The latter also have a somewhat more indistinct wing drawing. On the forewings there are three fine, dark, slightly yellow-lined cross bars. The two bands further outwards approach the inner wing margin clearly and enclose a middle field colored light gray. In the middle of the wing there is a slightly developed, gray-brown spot (disco-cellular spot). The gray-fringed hind wings are brightly colored and have a brown spot on the anal corner. The antennae are pinnate, but thread-like with short lamellae in the female. The head and thorax are black-brown in the male, gray-brown in the female, and the abdomen is yellow to red-brown in both sexes. In the female, the hair on the last abdominal segment is loose. There are individuals whose forewings are strongly darkened and whose hind wings are colored gray, as well as those whose transverse ligaments are broader and very dark. The species looks similar to the oak processionary moth ( Thaumetopoea processionea ), but differs from it by its white-gray instead of brown-gray forewings, the markings of which are sharper, as well as the lack of dark arched stripes on the hind wings.
Occurrence and habitat
The species occurs from the south of Sweden and Finland via Denmark and the northeast of Germany, east of the Elbe to Poland and further east. Occurrences are also known from France and Spain. It inhabits dry and sandy pine forests and prefers low-growing stands that are between 30 and 50 years old. The writer Robert Gernhardt describes in his fountain booklets an encounter with the pine processionary spiders in 1991 in his adopted home Toscana / Italy.
Way of life
The caterpillars feed on the needles of the Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris ) and Pinus uncinata . Occasionally, there are mass developments in which they can cause damage, especially in pine monocultures.
Flight and caterpillar times
The processionary moths develop in two separate tribes. The caterpillars of one trunk hatch from overwintering eggs in July and develop by August. They pupate in late summer and overwinter again as pupae , only to hatch in July and August of the third year. Occasionally these dolls survive for several years. The second strain lays its eggs in May, from which the caterpillars develop by autumn that same year and overwinter as a pupa. The adults of these animals hatch in May of the second year. These trunks, which occur in parallel, mean that in some years predominantly caterpillars or predominantly butterflies appear.
development
The caterpillars are predominantly nocturnal and sit in groups on the forks of their food plants during the day, spinning webs. Pupation takes place on the ground in the sand. For this purpose, the caterpillars, like those of the other processional moths, wander one after the other in processions, although with the pine processional moth usually only one row is formed.
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Josef J. de Freina, Thomas J. Witt: Noctuoidea, Sphingoidea, Geometroidea, Bombycoidea . In: The Bombyces and Sphinges of the Western Palaearctic . 1st edition. tape 1 . EFW Edition Research & Science, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-926285-00-1 , p. 292 .
- ↑ a b Manfred Koch: We identify butterflies. Volume 2: Bears, Spinners, Swarmers and Drills in Germany. 2nd, expanded edition. Neumann, Radebeul / Berlin 1964, DNB 452481929 , p. 90f.
literature
- Josef J. de Freina, Thomas J. Witt: Noctuoidea, Sphingoidea, Geometroidea, Bombycoidea . In: The Bombyces and Sphinges of the Western Palaearctic . 1st edition. tape 1 . EFW Edition Research & Science, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-926285-00-1 .
- Manfred Koch : We determine butterflies. Volume 2: Bears, Spinners, Swarmers and Drills in Germany. 2nd, expanded edition. Neumann, Radebeul / Berlin 1964, DNB 452481929 .
Web links
- www.schmetterling-raupe.de
- Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa (English)
- Thaumetopoea pinivora at Fauna Europaea