Copper owl

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Copper owl
Chersotis cuprea.jpg

Copper Owl ( Chersotis cuprea )

Systematics
Family : Owl butterfly (Noctuidae)
Subfamily : Noctuinae
Tribe : Noctuini
Sub tribus : Noctuina
Genre : Chersotis
Type : Copper owl
Scientific name
Chersotis cuprea
( Denis & Schiffermüller , 1775)

The copper owl ( Chersotis cuprea ), also known as copper-colored earth owl or steppe heather-ground owl , is a butterfly ( moth ) from the family of owl butterflies (Noctuidae).

features

butterfly

The wingspan of the moth is about 32 to 40 millimeters (31 to 36 mm). The front wing color is copper red to reddish brown. The middle field is clearly darker and stands out conspicuously from the root and fringe field. Ring, cone and kidney defects have a thin, whitish border. The inner transverse line is whitish, the outer wavy line indistinct and dark. The clear, dark brown, subterminal wavy line divides the fringing field into a darker inner area and a lighter outer area. The fringes are kept in the basic color. The hind wings are monochrome gray-brown with a slight lightening towards the roots. The fringes are a little lighter. The underside of the forewings is dark gray-brown; the undersides of the hind wings are somewhat lighter. The species has a great variability in the basic color (darkening up to shapes that no longer show any color differences between the basal, middle and fringe area, but also a lightening up to a light brown basic color). The middle field can also be selectively darkened or lightened and stand out little from the basic color or be almost black.

Egg, caterpillar, pupa

The oval egg is yellowish white at first and turns gray before hatching. The caterpillar is gray-brown in color, has gray-brown side lines and three light back lines with dark lines in between. The doll has two short thorns on the cone-shaped cremaster .

Geographical distribution and habitat

The copper owl has two isolated areas of distribution in Europe; the Pyrenees, Alps, the low mountain ranges north of the Alps, Apennines, Carpathians, Dinarides to northern Greece and the Peloponnese, as well as southern and central Fennoscandia, across Russia to the Urals. The distribution area extends further east over Siberia to Tibet, China and Japan. It is therefore largely absent in the North German Plain. The range is similar to that of other boreo-montane-subalpine species.

The species is mainly found in warm, mountainous areas with limestone, but occasionally it also occurs on peatland. In the Alps it can still be found at altitudes of over 2000 meters.

Way of life

The copper owl forms one generation per year whose moths fly from mid-July to mid-September. They are mostly diurnal and visit flowers. Occasionally you will also come across artificial light sources . The females often lay the eggs in the dead flower heads of thistles ( Cirsium ) or other daisy family (Asteraceae). The caterpillars live on bilberry ( Vaccinium myrtillus ) and other low plants from October . They hide during the day and usually feed at night. They overwinter and pupate mostly in June of the following year.

Danger

The species is very rare or completely absent in many northern regions and is listed in category 3 (endangered) on the Red List of Endangered Species in Germany . In Baden-Württemberg it is on the forewarning list, in Bavaria it is one of the species with geographical restrictions.

Systematics

The buyer's owl was first described in 1775 by Michael Denis and Johann Ignaz Schiffermüller as Noctua cuprea . The type locality is the area around Vienna ("Wienergegend"). Hacker and Varga subdivide the species into three subspecies:

  • Chersotis cuprea cuprea (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775) ( nominate subspecies ), in the greater part of the distribution area
  • Chersotis cuprea schaeferi Boursin, 1954, Tibet
  • Chersotis cuprea japonica (Warnecke, 1940), Japan

Chersotis cuprea schaeferi Boursin, 1954 differs from the nominate subspecies in that it has a smaller wingspan (29 mm) and the almost black darkening of the forewing disc. The flaws are small and indistinct. In contrast, the fore wing base, the Kostal margin and the area of ​​the terms are somewhat lighter. Chersotis cuprea japonica (Warnecke, 1940) has a light gray to brownish basic color and a dark brown central area of ​​the fore wing. In contrast, the Kostalrand and kidney and ring flaws are kept in the basic color. The flaws have a lighter border, the antemedial transverse line has a dark border towards the middle field.

A dark color variation of the foothills of the Alps, the Swabian and Franconian Jura as well as the mountains of the Balkan peninsula was considered a subspec. or known as var.palustris Osthelder, 1927. Habit and lack of geographical delimitation as well as frequent mixed populations prompted Hacker and Varga to put this form back to the nominate subspecies. For the same reason, the populations with a lighter ground color of the Southern Alps, the Apennines, Greece and Turkey, which were previously called the subspecies Chersotis cuprea pertexta Draudt, 1936, are also drawn back to the nominate subspecies. Also for the Chersotis cuprea f. Originally described as forma . livescens Corti & Draudt, 1933 no criteria could be found that would justify separation as a subspecies.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Red lists at Science4you
  2. ↑ Fibiger (1993: p. 62)
  3. ↑ Hacker & Varga (1990: pp. 301-304)
  4. ↑ a b Forster & Wohlfahrt (1971: p. 32)
  5. ↑ Manfred Koch : We identify butterflies. Volume 3: Owls. 2nd, expanded edition. Neumann, Leipzig / Radebeul 1972, DNB 760072930 .
  6. ↑ Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Ed.): Red List of Endangered Animals in Germany. Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster 1998, ISBN 3-89624-110-9

literature

  • Günter Ebert (Ed.): The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg . Volume 7, Nachtfalter V. Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-8001-3500-0
  • Michael Fibiger: Noctuinae II. - Noctuidae Europaeae, Volume 2. Entomological Press, Sorø, 1993, ISBN 87-89430-02-6
  • Walter Forster , Theodor A. Wohlfahrt : The butterflies of Central Europe. Volume 4: Owls. (Noctuidae). Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1971, ISBN 3-440-03752-5 .
  • Hermann Hacker and Zoltan Varga: The genus Chersotis Boisduval, 1840 1. The fimbriola (Esper, (1803) / laeta (Rebel, 1904) group. Spixiana, 13 (3): 277-327, Munich 1990 ISSN  0341-8391

Web links

Commons : Copper Owl  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files