Laothoe amurensis
| Laothoe amurensis | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
_Laothoe_amurensis_(Staudinger)_(14699710895).jpg)
Laothoe amurensis |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Laothoe amurensis | ||||||||||||
| ( Staudinger , 1879) |
Laothoe amurensis is a butterfly ( moth ) from the family of moth (Sphingidae). Laothoe sinica , which occurs in central China, is considered by some authors to be a subspecies of Laothoe amurensis , but appears to be its own, closely related species.
features
The moths reach a wingspan of 75 to 95 millimeters. The species looks very similar to the nominate subspecies of the poplar hawk ( Laothoe populi ), but can be easily distinguished from this by the lack of the rust-red spot on the base of the hind wing. Laothoe amurensis shows a maximum of a brown tint in some individuals. As with the similar species, the basic color of the body is variable and ranges from yellow-brown to pink to various shades of gray. The forma baltica is dark gray in color and smaller. The saccule of the male genitalia is much wider than that of the poplar hawk and has two very broad appendages. The aedeagus has multiple thorns on almost the entire edge, with the thorns on one side being small. The uncus is shorter than that of the similar species, the gnathos is more evenly convex underneath, its sides are straighter and the tip is more blunt.
Laothoe amurensis ♂
Laothoe amurensis ♂ △
The eggs are relatively large with a size of 2.3 by 2.0 by 1.9 millimeters. They are shiny green-yellow in color and flattened dorsoventrally. The caterpillars are 65 to 80 millimeters long and are therefore slightly larger than those of the poplar hawk. They come in a blue-green and a dark green color variant. Shortly after hatching, they are pale green in color, after the start of feeding their pattern is pale yellow. In the second stage, their coloring is already fully developed. Your body is then blue-green or occasionally dark green with white, sloping side stripes on the first to the eighth abdomen segment. The body is covered with numerous fine white tubercles. The caterpillars look very similar to those of the poplar hawk, but they have larger stigmas and a pair of enlarged tubercles on the back of the second thoracic segment . These tubercles become increasingly noticeable as their development progresses. The spiracles are colored white and framed in brown, the short anal horn is bluish and spotted with white on the sides. As with the similar species, the caterpillar turns light purple in color before pupation. The doll is 30 to 43 millimeters long. It is almost identical in appearance and color to that of the poplar hawk. Only the Kremaster is designed in two stages.
Occurrence
The species is distributed from the south of Finland, the east of Poland, Belarus and the Baltic states over the European part of Russia and the north of Kazakhstan to the west of Siberia and the Altai of Russia and China. The species also occurs in southern and eastern Siberia, the Tuvinian People's Republic , Buryatia , Outer Manchuria , Ussuri , Sakhalin , northern Mongolia, northeast China and Japan. Evidence from China southwest of Jilin relates to Laothoe sinica , the evidence from Korea could also be partly of this species, but the nominate subspecies of Laothoe amurensis was also detected there. The species is relatively rare in northern Europe and is repeatedly not detected over long periods of time. However, new detection locations are regularly discovered due to increased light trapping in poorly accessible areas.
The animals colonize open areas in forests and waterfronts with abundant vegetation of aspen ( Populus tremula ). They are rarely found outside of these habitats.
Way of life
The way of life of Laothoe amurensis is very similar to that of the poplar hawk. The adults rarely fly before midnight. The moths can often be seen flying back and forth over calm waters, repeatedly dipping into the water to drink.
Flight and caterpillar times
Depending on their location, the moths fly in one generation between the end of May and the beginning of July, with the flight maximum being in the first ten days of June. In the southern Urals, the species flies from mid-June to early July. Artificial rearing under warm temperature conditions creates a second partial to complete second generation, which suggests that this is also possible under natural conditions. The caterpillars are found between late June and early August. In Siberia the caterpillars occasionally appear en masse.
Food of the caterpillars
The caterpillars feed mainly on aspen ( Populus tremula ) and Populus lancifolia , other poplars ( Populus ) and willows ( Salix ) are less common .
development
The females lay fewer than 100 eggs individually on the underside of the leaf or on the petiole of the food plants. The caterpillars hatch after 10 to 12 days. Immediately after hatching, the caterpillars start eating the adult leaves of the food plants. These are first skeletonized, and with increasing growth they are completely eaten up to the midrib. Like the caterpillars of the poplar hawk, the caterpillars of Laothoe amurensis are wasteful when eating and drop large pieces of leaves to the ground. The caterpillars are initially nocturnal and rest stretched out on the underside of the leaves during the day. From the second stage onwards, the caterpillar rests in the sphinx position typical of many hawk species with an upright front body. They only hold onto the leaf with the last two or three pairs of belly legs . Adult caterpillars tend to rest individually on the petiole high up in mature trees, where they are well camouflaged by their color. Most caterpillars only go through four stages on poplars, but some, like those that feed on willow trees, shed their moult one more time before pupating. The caterpillars are fully grown after 40 to 50 days. The pupation finally made already after about four days after burial in the ground, in a two to three centimeters deep uncoated chamber at the base of a tree or grass tuft. The pupa hibernates. The moths hatch in the next year, those of the same population all within a span of five to seven days and then only live for six to ten days. This suggests that the moths are adapted to life in the boreal zone with short, warm summers and long, cold winters.
Specialized enemies
The two parasitic wasp species Netelia testacea and Netelia vinulae were detected as parasitoids in Laothoe amurensis .
supporting documents
Individual evidence
literature
- Ian J. Kitching, Jean-Marie Cadiou: Hawkmoths of the World. An Annotated and Illustrated Revisionary Checklist (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae). Cornell University Press, New York 2000, ISBN 0-801-43734-2
- AR Pittaway: The Hawkmoths of the western Palaearctic. Harley Books 1993, ISBN 0-946-58921-6
Web links
- Fauna Europaea: Taxonomy (English)