Lapara bombycoides
| Lapara bombycoides | ||||||||||||
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Preparation of Lapara bombycoides |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Lapara bombycoides | ||||||||||||
| Walker , 1856 |
Lapara bombycoides is a butterfly ( moth ) from the family of moth (Sphingidae). It colonizes large parts of eastern North America and has the largest range of all species in the genus Lapara . In large parts of this area it is also the only species of Lapara that occurs .
features
The moths have a fore wing length of 21 to 29 millimeters. They look very similar to Lapara coniferarum and are difficult to distinguish from this species. Fresh specimens of the similar species have a uniform gray color on the upper side of the forewings, which is lightened by white scales and somewhat by delicate spots, whereas Lapara bombycoides has a distinctly piebald coloring of gray, brown and white. The wing undersides of the similar species have either no or only extremely weakly developed oblique bands, whereas Lapara bombycoides has quite clear white bands on the underside of both pairs of wings. The upper side of the hind wings is monochrome brown-gray without any pattern. Lapara phaeobrachycerous is rather darker in color and has shorter antennae . In addition, the pattern on the wings of this species is even less pronounced than on Lapara coniferarum .
The difference between males and females in the contrast of the pattern on the forewings is not as pronounced in Lapara bombycoides as in Lapara coniferarum . Most of the individuals have the typical, clearly contrasted pattern, but there are also specimens in which the pattern is only very weak. In animals from the north of the range, the forewings seem to have more brown parts than in animals from the south.
The caterpillars are typically green and have white to yellowish subdorsal, spiracular and subspiracular longitudinal lines. Like the moths, they look similar to the caterpillars of Lapara coniferarum . The longitudinal lines of both species can vary from white to yellowish. The intensity of the reddish brown spots on the back and around the spiracles is also variable in both species. Adult Lapara coniferarum caterpillars appear to have mostly orange thoracic legs , whereas Lapara bombycoides has green thoracic legs.
The smooth, almost black and elongated pupae of the genus Lapara cannot be differentiated at the species level.
Occurrence
The species is found in the eastern United States of New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. It is absent in the Coastal Plain of the states further south on the Atlantic coast, but its distribution extends in a finger-shaped bulge inland to the Appalachians, where it south at least to Fontana Dam in Graham County in North Carolina and Vogel State Park recorded in Union County in the far northeast of Georgia. It is questionable whether the species occurs in isolation in Florida, as some authors claim. The species occurs in a second, northern extension of the range around the Great Lakes . It occurs there in Michigan, the extreme northwest of Indiana, and in large parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota. In the north, the species occurs to Canada, where it occurs in the east from Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick over the southern third of Québec and large parts of Ontario, west to north to central Manitoba and Central Saskatchewan. There is also recent evidence of Fort Chipewyan and Fort McMurray in northeast Alberta, which has significantly expanded knowledge of the range.
The species inhabits sandy Pine Barrens habitats in most of its northern range . In the Appalachian Mountains it is tied to deciduous forests in higher elevations with isolated pine vegetation.
Way of life
The adults were not observed visiting the flowers. The males often fly to artificial light sources, females are rarely found there.
Flight times
In the northern part of its range, the species clearly occurs in one generation per year from late May to early July. Further south in the Appalachian Mountains, the occurrence also seems to take place during this period, but the research situation is still insufficient here.
Food of the caterpillars
Most of the caterpillars are found on Banks pine ( Pinus banksiana ), Weymouth pine ( Pinus strobus ) and American red pine ( Pinus resinosa ). It is also found on other pines and occasionally even on East American larch ( Larix laricina ).
development
The females lay their small greenish eggs singly or in pairs on the needles of the host plants. The caterpillars hatch after eight to ten days. Pupation takes place in a chamber just below the surface of the earth, which is reinforced a little by silk threads. During examinations, the chamber was often found under moss pads.
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n James P. Tuttle: The Hawkmoths of North America, A Natural History Study of the Sphingidae of the United States and Canada. The Wedge Entomological Research Foundation, Washington, DC 2007, ISBN 978-0-9796633-0-7 .
- ↑ a b Sphingidae of the Americas. Bill Oehlke, accessed December 29, 2012 .
literature
- James P. Tuttle: The Hawkmoths of North America, A Natural History Study of the Sphingidae of the United States and Canada. The Wedge Entomological Research Foundation, Washington, DC 2007, ISBN 978-0-9796633-0-7 .
