Nail stain

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nail stain
Nail spot (Aglia tau) ♂

Nail spot ( Aglia tau ) ♂

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family : Peacock moth (Saturniidae)
Subfamily : Saturniinae
Genre : Aglia
Type : Nail stain
Scientific name
Aglia tau
( Linnaeus , 1761)
Aglia tau both sex.jpg
Underside of the wings of the male, the heavily combed antennae are recognizable
Nail spot caterpillar in the first stage
Nail spot caterpillar in the second stage
Nail spot caterpillar in the fourth and final stage

The nail spot ( Aglia tau ) is a butterfly from the family of the peacock moth (Saturniidae).

features

The moths reach a wingspan of 55 to 85 millimeters, with the males being slightly smaller. Their wings are ocher yellow to dark brown, black forms are rare. The males are much more strongly colored than the pale females. The animals have a black, dark blue coreed eye spot on each wing, with a light, T-shaped, "nail spot" in the middle. A dark band runs close to the outer edge of the wing. The wing surface between it and the outer edge is partly darkly dusted. The antennae of the males are strongly feathered. The underside of the wing is colored light reddish brown and light grayish. In the middle of the forewings there is a broad, brown band in which a light nail spot can be seen. The edge of the underside of the forewing is the same as that of the upper side with an, however, light colored band. Dark shapes of the nail spot are f. ferenigra Th. Mieg. and f. melaina Gross. The Trauntal has proven to be the geographical limit for both forms. They are relatively seldom present under the trunk and fly in rather higher altitudes.

The caterpillars are about 50 millimeters long. They are colored green and have, in addition to a yellowish side line, oblique yellowish stripes on their bulging back humps. They are hairless and plump in their physique. In young stages they have two on the head, two on the third segment and a very long, slightly toothed appendage on the penultimate segment, which is forked at the end. These are colored dark red, white, dark red. Another short, dark red appendix sits at the end of the abdomen. These appendages become smaller after each moult and are completely absent in the last larval stage. The head of the animals is brown and white in the first larval stage and green in the following stages.

Occurrence

The animals are found all over Europe , except the far north, in England and parts of the Mediterranean area. They are not uncommon in Central Europe , but occur more frequently in the south and north. They live in deciduous forests , especially with a high proportion of beech.

Way of life

In contrast to the nocturnal or twilight-active females, the males fly around in a hectic zigzag flight on the ground during the day in search of unfertilized females. But they also fly at night. The females lure the males with pheromones , which they can perceive with their large antennae from a great distance. These moths have no mouthparts and therefore cannot ingest food. Therefore they only live a few days.

Flight and caterpillar times

The nail spot flies in one generation from mid-April to May, at the same time as the beech trees begin to sprout. The caterpillars are found from May to early August.

Food of the caterpillars

The caterpillars feed on most of European beech ( Fagus sylvatica ), but also of goat willow ( Salix caprea ), English oak ( Quercus robur ), silver birch ( Betula pendula ) and other deciduous trees .

development

The females lay their red-brown, flat and oval eggs individually, but sometimes very close to each other on branches. After hatching, the caterpillars build a web on the underside of a leaf in which they rest during the feeding breaks. They pupate on the ground or in the litter layer or in the moss in a loose, net-like cocoon and overwinter in it before they hatch.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 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. 84.
  2. ↑ Hans Foltin, The Spread of Dark Forms by Aglia tau L., Journal of the Vienna Entomological Society, 33rd year (PDF; 540 kB)
  3. ^ Leopold Müller, The dark forms of Aglia tau L. in Upper Austria , magazine of the Austrian Entomologists Association, 13th year (PDF; 478 kB)
  4. ^ A b c Hans-Josef Weidemann, Jochen Köhler: Moths. Weirdos and hawkers. Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1996, ISBN 3-89440-128-1 , p. 146f.

literature

  • Adalbert Seitz, The Big Butterflies of the Earth, Stuttgart 1909–1915
  • Manfred Koch : We determine butterflies. Volume 2: Bears, Spinners, Swarmers and Drills in Germany. 2nd, expanded edition. Neumann, Radebeul / Berlin 1964, DNB 452481929 .
  • Günter Ebert (Ed.): The Butterflies of Baden-Württemberg Volume 4, Moths II (Bombycidae, Endromidae, Lasiocampidae, Lemoniidae, Saturniidae, Sphingidae, Drepanidae, Notodontidae, Dilobidae, Lymantriidae, Ctenuchidae, Nolidae). Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1994. ISBN 3-8001-3474-8
  • Hans-Josef Weidemann, Jochen Köhler: Moths. Weirdos and hawkers. Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1996, ISBN 3-89440-128-1 .

Web links

Commons : Nagelfleck  - album with pictures, videos and audio files