Mallow thick-headed butterfly

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Mallow thick-headed butterfly
Mallow Dickkopffalter (Carcharodus alceae)

Mallow Dickkopffalter ( Carcharodus alceae )

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family : Thick-headed butterfly (Hesperiidae)
Subfamily : Pyrginae
Genre : Carcharodus
Type : Mallow thick-headed butterfly
Scientific name
Carcharodus alceae
( Esper , 1780)

The mallow thick-headed butterfly ( Carcharodus alceae ) is a butterfly from the family of the thick-headed butterfly (Hesperiidae). The specific epithet is derived from Malva alcea ( rose mallow ), a food plant of the caterpillars .

Light brown specimen

features

The moths reach a wingspan of 23 to 30 millimeters. Their wing tops are patterned with colorful, in several shades of brown and partly yellowish, grayish and orange rectangles. On the front wings, short, white horizontal stripes run from the edge to the middle of the wing.

The eggs are yellowish and hemispherical with a flattened base. The surface is covered with elongated warts, each connected by low ribs. This gives the egg a prickly appearance. In the further course of development it turns red.

The caterpillars are about 23 millimeters long. They are dark gray in color and covered with fine white dots. Her head is black, with three narrow, yellow spots directly behind it, separated by black stripes. The animals have numerous, short, white hairs.

egg
Caterpillar
Doll

Similar species

Occurrence

The animals are found in southern and central Europe , Turkey and parts of Central Asia up to an altitude of 2,000 meters. In Central Europe, they are particularly found in the south (e.g. Swabian Alb and Upper Rhine ). They live in warm, dry and sunny areas, such as B. in gravel pits, quarries on dry grass or wasteland . Their populations often vary greatly from year to year.

Way of life

The mallow thick-headed butterfly is very dependent on heat and forms two generations in Germany, which fly from mid-May to late June and from mid-July to early September. The first generation caterpillars can be observed in September and, after overwintering, in April the following year. The second generation larvae live from June to July. The species can produce up to five generations in hot regions and favorable years. The male moths can sometimes be seen lowering their wings below the level of the chest to raise their abdomen. This behavior is probably related to the temperature and the incidence of light.

Moth with lowered wings and protruding abdomen
Two views of the same specimen

Food of the caterpillars

The caterpillars feed on the mallow family (Malvaceae), especially the common mallow ( Malva neglecta ) and the musk mallow ( Malva moschata ).

development

The females lay their very coarsely ribbed, light pink colored eggs one by one on top of the leaves of their forage plants. The hatched caterpillar builds a shelter by turning over a leaf on one side and securing it with its threads. They overwinter in this dwelling and pupate early in spring.

Hazard and protection

  • Red list FRG: 3 (endangered).
  • Baden-Württemberg red list: 2 (endangered).

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Arnold Spuler: The butterflies of Europe . tape 1 . E. Schweitzerbartsche Verlagbuchhandlung, Stuttgart 1908, p. 74 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Heiko Bellmann : The new Kosmos butterfly guide. Butterflies, caterpillars and forage plants. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-440-09330-1 , p. 108.
  3. ↑ Lepiforum - Carcharodus alceae
  4. ^ Forster & Wohlfahrt (1955: p. 110)
  5. ↑ a b Tolman & Lewington (1998: p. 263)
  6. ↑ Manfred Koch : We identify butterflies. Volume 1: Butterfly. 4th enlarged edition. Neumann, Radebeul / Berlin 1966, DNB 457244224 .
  7. ↑ Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Ed.): Red List of Endangered Animals in Germany. Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster 1998, ISBN 3-89624-110-9
  8. ↑ Ebert & Rennwald (1993: pp. 451–458)

literature

  • Günter Ebert (Hrsg.): The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg Volume 2, Tagfalter II (Augenfalter (Satyridae), Bläulinge (Lycaenidae), Dickkopfalter (Hesperiidae)), Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1993. ISBN 3-8001-3459-4
  • Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa . Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-440-07573-7
  • Walter Forster , Theodor A. Wohlfahrt : The butterflies of Central Europe. Volume 2: Butterflies. (Rhopalocera and Hesperiidae). Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1955, DNB 456642188 .

Web links

Commons : Malven-Dickkopffalter  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files