Little kingfisher

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Little kingfisher
Little Kingfisher (Limenitis camilla)

Little Kingfisher ( Limenitis camilla )

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family : Noble butterfly (Nymphalidae)
Subfamily : Kingfishers (Limenitidinae)
Genre : Limenitis
Type : Little kingfisher
Scientific name
Limenitis camilla
( Linnaeus , 1764)

The small kingfisher ( Limenitis camilla , Syn .: Ladoga camilla ), also small ice butterfly is a butterfly (day butterfly ) from the family of the noble butterfly (Nymphalidae). The specific epithet is derived from a Roman woman's name.

features

The moths reach a wingspan of 45 to 52 millimeters. The upper sides of their wings are colored black-brown and have a wide band of white spots that, when the wings are open, form a semicircle that is open to the front over the two pairs of wings. On the forewings, the band is somewhat irregular in shape than on the hind wings. A few smaller white spots can also be found between the bandage and the outer edge of the wing. Between the bandage and the outer edge of both pairs of wings run two rows with small, inconspicuous, dark spots.

The small, dark spots on the underside of the wing are easily recognizable, as it has an orange-brown basic color. The white band, finely lined with black, is dominant. On the outer edge and also at the base of the wings there are further white areas, which are sometimes bordered by dark spots.

The body of the butterfly is white to blue-gray on the underside and dark on the upper side. Only the tip of the abdomen, adjacent to the white bandage, can be dusted white. The males have a slightly more pointed wing shape and their white band is also a bit narrower.

  • Dorsal view

  • △ Anterior view

  • Little kingfisher

  • Limenitis camilla

The caterpillars are up to about 27 millimeters long. They are colored green and have a light line on the side. Your head capsule is dark brown and prickly. The body is provided with two rows of brown, branched thorns of different lengths.

Similar species

Land cards ( Araschnia levana ) of the summer generation are often mistaken for small kingfishers, although the former are considerably smaller and have red-brown spots on the edge areas of the upper sides of the wings.

Wing underside
Little Kingfisher caterpillar
Young kingfisher caterpillar on faeces on red honeysuckle ( Lonicera xylosteum )
Hibernarium: The thorns of the caterpillar of the kingfisher can be seen in the pocket opening

Occurrence

The animals occur in Europe and Asia , east to Japan , but are absent in the Mediterranean area , on the Iberian Peninsula and north of Denmark . It is the most common species of the genus Limenitis . It lives in moist forests, especially in alluvial forests and in mountainous areas.

Way of life

The moths seldom suckle on flowers, but primarily on moist soil, animal droppings and the honeydew of aphids . Unlike the Great Kingfisher, they fly very close to the ground and can be found flying up and down in small groups on narrow, shady forest trails covered with dense foliage.

Food of the caterpillars

The caterpillars feed mainly on the red honeysuckle ( Lonicera xylosteum ), more rarely also on other honeysuckles , common snowberries ( Symphoricarpos albus ) and forest honeysuckle ( Lonicera periclymenum ). You need plants that are in the shade, in humid places, which also grow near the flight locations of the moths.

Food of the moths

The moths are occasionally found sucking on damp earth or horse droppings . Human sweat is also used. In addition, various white-blooming inflorescences of umbellifers , dwarf elder ( Sambucus ebulus ), yarrow ( Achillea ), privet ( Ligustrum ) and also purple flowers of various thistles and widow flowers ( Knautia ) are used as nectar plants.

Flight and caterpillar times

The animals fly in one generation from mid-June to mid-August. The caterpillars can be found from August and after wintering until the beginning of June.

development

The females lay their green, heavily bristled eggs individually on the top and bottom, mostly on the tip of the leaf of the forage plants. However, there are usually several eggs on a shrub, these are usually found close to the ground in the shady areas. The caterpillars that hatch from it eat the leaf from the leaf tip on both sides of the midrib. The central rib remains and is lengthened by its own ball of excrement and filaments. The caterpillar then rests on the feces.

At the end of summer, after the second moult, the young caterpillar builds a bag from a leaf and silk, the so-called hibernarium or hibernaculum, in which wintering takes place. In winter you can easily recognize these bags by the otherwise bare bush. The caterpillar, which initially measures around eight millimeters, shrinks to a length of around three millimeters as it dries out over the winter.

The first buds that have sprout are eaten in spring. They develop quickly until they are ready to pupate around late May to early June. Pupation takes place on the underside of the leaf in a green tumbler . The doll has two characteristic stub-shaped appendages on the head and is patterned with several metallic spots. There is another outgrowth on the back, this and the edge of the abdomen are dark red-brown in color. The butterfly hatches after about 14 days.

Hazard and protection

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Elizabeth Balmer: Butterflies: Recognize and Determine. Parragon Books, 2007, ISBN 9781407512037 , p. 114
  2. ↑ David J. Carter, Brian Hargreaves: Caterpillars and Butterflies of Europe and their Forage Plants , Paul Parey Publishing, 1986, ISBN 3-490-13918-6 , p. 47, p. 246
  3. ^ Arnold Spuler: The butterflies of Europe . tape 1 . E. Schweitzerbartsche Verlagbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1908, p. 15 .
  4. ↑ a b c Heiko Bellmann : The new Kosmos butterfly guide. Butterflies, caterpillars and forage plants. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-440-09330-1 , p. 188.
  5. ^ A b David J. Carter, Brian Hargreaves: Caterpillars and butterflies of Europe and their forage plants. Blackwell-Wissenschaftsverlag 1987, ISBN 3-8263-8139-4
  6. ↑ a b c Hans-Josef Weidemann: Tagfalter: watch, determine , p. 384ff, Naturbuch-Verlag Augsburg 1995, ISBN 3-89440-115-X
  7. ↑ a b Günter Ebert (Ed.): The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg . Volume 1, Butterfly I (Knight Butterflies (Papilionidae), Whiteflies (Pieridae), Edelfalter (Nymphalidae)), Ulmer-Verlag Stuttgart 1993. ISBN 3-8001-3451-9
  8. ↑ Manfred Koch : We identify butterflies. Volume 1: Butterfly. 4th enlarged edition. Neumann, Radebeul / Berlin 1966, DNB 457244224 , p. 88f.
  9. ^ W. Düring: Kleiner Eisvogel. In: Butterfly in Rhineland-Palatinate. BUND RLP, December 31, 2018, accessed on April 12, 2020 (German).
  10. ↑ Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Ed.): Red List of Endangered Animals in Germany. Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster 1998, ISBN 978-3-89624-110-8

Web links

Commons : Kleiner Eisvogel  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files