Bedstraw bear
| Bedstraw bear | ||||||||||||
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Bedstraw bear ( Watsonarctia deserta ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Watsonarctia deserta | ||||||||||||
| ( Bartel , 1902) |
The Labkrautbär or Waldmeisterbär ( Eucharia deserta , Syn. : Watsonarctia casta is a) butterfly ( moth ) from the subfamily of the tiger moth (Arctiinae).
description
The moths have a wingspan of 26 to 32 millimeters and a strongly squat, thick and long hairy body. Their forewings are white and have a wide, black band at the tip, slightly indented in the middle, and a wide, often interrupted band in the middle of the wings. There is a black spot at the base of each wing. The hind wings, which are white in the male and pink in the female, have a slightly interrupted black band on the tips, but the color is not as strong as that of the forewings. The black areas on the female moth are much more strongly colored than those on the males, whose color turns brown.
The caterpillars are about 30 millimeters long. They are gray-brown and have a broken white topline. Next to the line there is a dark brown to black spot on each segment on the left and right. In addition, they are colored pink to white on the sides.
distribution
The animals live in dry, very warm areas, such as B. on rocky or sandy dry grass or in steppe-like terrain. In Central Europe they are only very rare in the Kaiserstuhl and the neighboring Alsace . They are quite common in south-eastern Europe , the southern Alps and the Mediterranean region .
Flight and caterpillar times
The moths fly in one generation in May. The caterpillars are crepuscular and nocturnal and can be found from mid-July to mid-August (Kaiserstuhl).
Way of life
The males are good fliers and only become active in the early morning hours. They are strongly attracted to artificial light. In contrast to the males, the females are flightless and move "like a ground beetle, mostly very nimble and skillful, sometimes jumping and flying short distances also low above the ground ..." Due to this behavior close to the ground, they occasionally fall prey to ant lions .
If caterpillars of the bedstraw bear are encountered during the day, there is a high probability that they are parasitized. As a result of this disorder, they have given up their normal behavior and left the protective vegetation.
Food of the caterpillars
The caterpillars feed mainly on real bedstraw ( Galium verum ), but also on other bedstraws ( Galium spec. ) And allegedly also on woodruff ( Galium odoratum ), which is why they are also called woodruff bear.
Reproduction
The male's mating flight will likely begin just before dawn. The females lay their eggs in small piles on low plants. The egg phase is about a week. The hatching caterpillars only eat at night and are then very active. During the day they sit hidden under tufts of grass or leaves. They overwinter and pupate the following year under stones or in dense vegetation in a very firm, brown web in which they also incorporate parts of plants.
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Günter Ebert (Ed.): The Butterflies of Baden-Württemberg Volume 5, Moths III (Sesiidae, Arctiidae, Noctuidae). Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1997. ISBN 3-800-13481-0
literature
- Heiko Bellmann : The new Kosmos butterfly guide. Butterflies, caterpillars and forage plants. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-440-09330-1 .
Web links
- www.lepiforum.de Taxonomy and photos
- Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa (English)
- Watsonarctia deserta at Fauna Europaea