Little fox
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Little fox ( Aglais urticae ) |
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| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The little fox ( Aglais urticae , syn .: Nymphalis urticae ) is a butterfly (day butterfly ) of the noble butterfly family (Nymphalidae). The name Aglais urticae is derived from Latin Aglaie , or gr. Aglaia or Ἀγλαΐα ("shine", "splendor"), the youngest of the three graces and Latin urtica , the nettle and describes the graceful shape as well as the nettle Fodder plant. Therefore it is also often called the "nettle butterfly".
features
The moths reach a wingspan of 40 to 50 millimeters. The upper sides of the wings have a basic orange color, with the base of the wings, especially the rear wing, being dark brown. They have a black, yellow and white spot pattern on the front edge of the forewings and close to the dark brown outer edge of both wing pairs a blue spot border, which is darkly covered. On each of the forewings there are two smaller and one large black spot, on the hind wing there is only one large black spot that connects to the dark brown basal part.
Aglais urticae
△ Aglais urticae
In middle and high mountain areas, the moths are often larger and lighter in color. In northern Europe they are rather smaller and darker.
The caterpillars are about 30 millimeters long, other sources give a length of up to 22 millimeters. The caterpillars are black, finely spotted white and have two interrupted, yellow side lines. Below the side lines, the body is purple-brown and occasionally with a reddish-brown drawing between the yellow side lines. The caterpillar's body has spines on its back and sides that are black or yellowish. The caterpillar head is black.
Subspecies
Occurrence
The animals are found all over Europe and Asia , east to the Pacific . They are usually found up to an altitude of 3,000 meters, but moths are occasionally found up to heights of 3,500 meters. They live in a wide variety of habitats ( ubiquist ), which is why they are widespread and very common.
Way of life
The adults feed on the nectar of various plant species. In Baden-Württemberg alone , well over 200 nectar plants are known to visit, including around 40% mostly foreign garden plants. The moths are found among other things on nectar-rich tall herbaceous corridors with occurrence of the main nectar plants water dost ( Eupatorium spec. ) And thistle ( Cirsium spec. ). At higher altitudes these are Alpine milk lettuce ( Cicerbita alpina ), Alpendost ( Adenostyles spec. ) And Fuchs's ragwort ( Senecio ovatus ). The moths can also be observed sucking silver thistles ( Carlina acaulis ) on poor grassland .
The animals are migrant butterflies , first-order internal migrants . They undertake shorter hikes within their area of distribution. For example, they often fly from the mountains to the warmer lowlands in autumn and the next generation back again in early summer. The little fox, like the peacock butterfly ( Inachis io ), which also belongs to the noble butterflies, overwinters in sheltered places such as cellars, attics, garages or in natural hiding places, whereby the wintering can be interrupted on warm days.
At least the males seem to occupy territories during the day, similar to some other species of noble butterfly, when the weather is favorable, from which they chase and drive past other moths or other larger insects; like z. B. from sunny piles of wood as a seat. A similar temporary “territorial behavior” is known among our butterflies from the admiral , peacock butterfly and mourning cloak .
They are often observed at the Gipfelbalz : in search of sexual partners, they sail down the slope over and over again at striking elevations such as hills, mountain tops or castle ruins.
Flight time
The animals fly in warm regions in two to three generations per year from May to October, in cold areas and at high altitudes only in one from May to August. After wintering, they fly from March to April.
Food of the caterpillars
The caterpillars feed almost exclusively on the great nettle ( Urtica dioica ). Since the nettle prefers to occur on nitrogen-rich soils, the moth is particularly common there.
development
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The females lay their green eggs in large clutches of 50 to 200 on the underside of the leaves of sunlit forage plants. The young caterpillars eat gregariously in self-made webs until the last moult, while adult caterpillars can usually be found individually or in small groups. The caterpillars pupate for a feeding time of about a month in a brown or pale green Stürzpuppe having multiple spines and golden-metallic patches. The development from egg to butterfly is very temperature-dependent and takes between one and two months, half of the time being spent on the caterpillar and a quarter each on the egg and pupa stage.
Small foxes have a pronounced preference for fresh green, so that the moths usually set their eggs on freshly sprouting nettles. These observations are supported by the chemical analysis of nettle leaves of various physiological states. It has been shown that the leaves of plants that have just sprout in spring and after mowing hardly differ in terms of water content, total nitrogen content and soluble proteins . At the beginning of the nettle bloom, however, the water and nitrogen content is significantly reduced. The content of the proteins that are particularly important for the nutrition of the caterpillars falls to a fraction of the initial value.
Enemies
The caterpillars are not eaten by birds , but their pupae are. The conspicuous coloring of the caterpillars is probably a deterrent. Many caterpillars of the nettle moth - like the caterpillars of many other species of butterflies - but of themselves as parasites developing Diptera occupied (Tachinidae) with eggs.
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Heiko Bellmann : The new cosmos butterfly guide. Butterflies, caterpillars and forage plants. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-440-09330-1 , p. 172.
- ↑ a b c d e f Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: Die Tagfalter Europäische und Nordwestafrikas , p. 146, Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-440-07573-7
- ↑ a b c David J. Carter, Brian Hargreaves: Caterpillars and butterflies of Europe and their forage plants. Blackwell Wissenschaftsverlag 1987, ISBN 3-8263-8139-4
- ↑ Own observation (Mönchsjoch, Switzerland, August 31, 2007) User: Wahldresdner
- ^ A b c Günter Ebert, Erwin Rennwald: The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg, Volume 1, Tagfalter I. Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1993. ISBN 3-8001-3451-9
literature
- Hans-Josef Weidemann: Butterfly: observe, determine , Naturbuch-Verlag Augsburg 1995, ISBN 3-89440-115-X
- Josef Settele, Roland Steiner, Rolf Reinhardt, Reinart Feldmann: Butterflies. The butterflies of Germany. , Eugen Ulmer KG, 2005, ISBN 3-8001-4167-1
- Axel Hausmann, Michael A. Miller: Atlas of the caterpillars of European and Asia Minor butterflies, photographed by Burkhard Nippe , Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, Munich, 2000, ISBN 3-931516-79-2
Web links
- Lepiforum e. V. - Taxonomy and photos
- www.schmetterling-raupe.de
- Species portraits of butterflies in Rhineland-Palatinate - Kleiner Fuchs
- www.eurobutterflies.com (English)
- Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa (English)
- Aglais urticae at Fauna Europaea