Little poplar mother
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Little poplar mother ( Poecilocampa populi ), ♂ |
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| Poecilocampa populi | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The small poplar mother or autumn mother hen ( Poecilocampa populi ) is a butterfly ( moth ) from the mother hen family (Lasiocampidae). The species is widespread, occurs frequently in Central Europe and is not endangered. The moths do not fly until late autumn, which is unusual for butterflies.
features
The moths reach a wingspan of 30 to 45 millimeters, the fore wing length is 12 to 18 millimeters. The forewings are dark gray to blue-black and have a light purple sheen; the basal field and the costal edge can occasionally be reddish-brown. The forewings show two slightly jagged, whitish to light yellow transverse lines that expand to a small spot on the forewing edge. The inner transverse line is often barely noticeable. The basic color of the hind wings is slightly lighter than that of the forewings. There is also a light transverse line on them. The thorax is very hairy, dark and light gray. The neck collar (Patagia) is strikingly yellow in color.
The females are slightly larger than the males and can be easily recognized by their thread-like instead of combed antennae .
The caterpillars are about 50 millimeters long and are somewhat flattened. They come in two color morphs. The caterpillars of the light morph are light gray-brown in color, have dense, dark, very fine dots and a light point on each segment on the left and right of the back. The dark morph is darker gray in color and has diamond-shaped spots on the back, next to which pairs of bright spots can be seen. The body color varies depending on the color of the bark on which the animals live. The caterpillars have more or less long, light hairs, especially on the sides.
Occurrence
The animals are found in Europe from the north of the Iberian Peninsula through western, central and northern Europe to temperate Asia east to East Asia. They are absent in the Mediterranean region and in northern Scandinavia . They can be found in a large number of different habitats from the lowlands to the higher mountains , but they prefer humid and light mixed deciduous forests, where they occur particularly at the edges and forest paths, as well as bushy dry slopes and alluvial forests that are bordered by bushes. But they also occur in parks, avenues and gardens.
Way of life
The adults , like all chicks, do not have a proboscis and die soon after mating and laying eggs. The nocturnal moths are extremely robust and can still fly at temperatures around freezing point and even in light snowfall. They are strongly attracted by artificial light and can thus be attracted in large numbers.
Flight and caterpillar times
The little poplar mother flies extremely late in the year; usually only after the first severe night frosts, which are not a prerequisite for the moths to hatch. The earliest moths fly from the beginning of October; the flight maximum is in November. Depending on the weather, the moths are usually detected by the end of November and beginning of December, with finds until January being the exception. The caterpillars are found from April to June, the maximum of their occurrence is in May. Pupation takes place mainly from the end of May to the beginning of June. The moths will soon be fully developed, but they do not hatch until late in the year.
Food of the caterpillars
The caterpillars feed on various deciduous trees and shrubs without preferring a particular species. The food plants include poplars ( Populus ), such as the quaking aspen ( Populus tremula ), willows ( Salix ), such as the sal willow ( Salix caprea ), common hazel ( Corylus avellana ), silver birch ( Betula pendula ), black willow Alder ( Alnus glutinosa ), common beech ( Fagus sylvatica ), English oak ( Quercus robur ), blackthorn ( Prunus spinosa ), spring linden ( Tilia platyphyllos ), Norway maple ( Acer platanoides ), apple tree ( Malus domestica ), plum ( Prunus domestica) ) and common ash ( Fraxinus excelsior ).
development
The females lay their gray-brown and light-speckled eggs individually or in small groups on branches of the forage plants. The eggs overwinter and the caterpillars hatch in spring. During the day, the caterpillars sit perfectly camouflaged in cracks in the bark on the trunks or branches of their forage plants and only climb up to eat at night. They pupate in the ground in a very firm, dark gray-brown cocoon or cocoon that is the same color as the ground . The doll itself is dark red-brown.
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Heiko Bellmann : The new Kosmos butterfly guide. Butterflies, caterpillars and forage plants. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-440-09330-1 , p. 72.
- ↑ a b c d Hans-Josef Weidemann, Jochen Köhler: Moth. Weirdos and hawkers. Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1996, ISBN 3-89440-128-1 , p. 96f.
- ↑ a b c Günter Ebert (Ed.): The Butterflies of Baden-Württemberg, Volume 4, Moths II (Bombycidae, Endromidae, Lasiocampidae, Lemoniidae, Saturniidae, Sphingidae, Drepanidae, Notodontidae, Dilobidae, Lymantriidae, Ctenidae , Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1994. ISBN 3-800-13474-8
literature
- Manfred Koch , Wolfgang Heinicke: We identify butterflies. 3. Edition. Neumann, Radebeul 1991, ISBN 3-7402-0092-8 .
- Leraut, P. (2006): Moths of Europe. Vol. 1. Saturnids, Lasiocampids, Hawkmoths, Tiger Moths ... NAP Éditions, Verrières le Buisson. 396 pp., 78 color plates. ISBN 2-913688-07-1
