Blue pelargonium
| Blue pelargonium | ||||||||||||
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Blue pelargonium ( Cacyreus marshalli ) |
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| Cacyreus marshalli | ||||||||||||
| Butler , 1898 |
The geranium bronze ( Cacyreus marshalli ) is a butterfly ( butterfly ) from the family of Gossamer (Lycaenidae). It originally comes from southern Africa and was introduced to the Balearic Islands with pelargoniums in 1989 and is now widespread in several parts of Europe .
features
The moths reach a wingspan of 15 to 23 millimeters (males) or 18 to 27 millimeters (females). The wing tops are dark brown, the edge is fringed and has light spots. The undersides of the wings are patterned in various shades of brown and gray, with a distinct dark brown band that continues curved on the outer edge of the wing and several "bandages" are distributed on the wings, which are lightly edged on the sides. The hind wings each have a short, very thin tail.
The caterpillars are about 13 millimeters long and have a color that varies from yellow to green. They have one or two pink longitudinal lines along the back. They have light, short, thick hair.
distribution
The original range of the animals is South and Southeast Africa ( Mozambique ). Caterpillars were first observed in Europe in 1978 in England on pelargoniums of the var. 'Fever Cascade' imported from South Africa. The blue pelargonium on Mallorca was observed for the first time in the field in 1988 and spread rapidly there. The animals were probably introduced with pelargoniums on which eggs or caterpillars lived. They were spotted for the first time in mainland Spain in 1992 near Valencia . In 1995 they were already very common in the Alicante area and a few years later the species was firmly established in Andalusia and Catalonia and reached the French border in the Girona region and from there spreads into southern France.
“From the end of July to the beginning of August 2000, the moth near Narbonne was the most common blue color in the settlement area. He regularly flew around ornamental "geraniums" and was also observed laying eggs on pelargonium "
There are also reports from France from the Rhone Valley and Bordeaux . In 1994 the first evidence for Italy was made in Tivoli . Two years later the blue pelargonium appeared en masse in Rome and in 2001 the species reached Sicily . From Tivoli, the species spreads to the north, where it is often observed on Lake Garda , and to the east, where the Adriatic was reached. There have also been reports from Morocco since the late 1990s.
In the northern regions, individual animals were observed again and again, but the colder winters prevented the species from being established. There are reports from Belgium (1991), the Netherlands (2003), Germany and the south of England (1997).
The moths can be found up to a height of 2,000 meters, but live in Spain and southern France mainly in cities and holiday resorts near the coast with many pelargoniums (ornamental "geraniums") in the gardens and on the balconies.
Way of life
Flight and caterpillar times
The moths fly in different flight times depending on the region, with five to six generations per year. In the south of France they fly from March to November, in Spain even continuously. Caterpillars can also be found in southern France throughout the year, although depending on the region the caterpillar overwinters or its development is delayed during the winter. No caterpillars have been found in Central Europe yet.
Food of the caterpillars
The caterpillars feed on pelargoniums ( Pelargonium zonale , Pelargonium peltatum and Pelargonium grandiflora ) and the Pyrenean cranesbill ( Geranium pyrenaicum ).
development
After mating, the females lay their white or light green, vertically grooved eggs one by one on the buds and undersides of the leaves of their forage plants. The eggs are slightly flattened and 0.5 to 0.6 millimeters wide and about 0.3 millimeters high. The caterpillars that hatch from it eat a hole in the middle of the leaves and first eat mining in the leaf and then freely on the underside of the leaves. The caterpillar goes through four stages until pupation, each of which lasts about eight days. They pupate either on the underside of the leaf or in the litter in a green to brown pupal shell about nine millimeters long, which can sometimes have purple streaks.
The entire life cycle takes between one (approx. 30 ° C) and two months (approx. 20 ° C) depending on the average temperature.
Harmful effect
The animals cause only minor damage to plants in their original habitat, as they have enough natural enemies there. In Europe, however, these are lacking, which is why they have become a nuisance for gardeners who grow their food plants. In addition to control with Bacillus thuringiensis var. Kurstaki , insecticides are the only way to take action against the animals, as the conditions for their enemies (especially parasitoids ) in Europe are not ideal. So far only the caterpillar fly (Tachinidae) Aplomya confinis has been detected.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Cacyreus marshalli. (No longer available online.) Norbert Hirneisen, archived from the original on September 28, 2007 ; Retrieved October 3, 2006 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Erwin Rennwald, Jürgen Hensle: Cacyreus marshalli. Lepiforum eV, accessed on September 7, 2010 .
- ↑ Sarto i Monteys, V .: El taladro de los geranios Cacyreus marshalli Butler, 1898 se establece en Francia. Nuevos datos sobre su biologia , SHILAP, Revista lepidopterologica 26 (104): 221-227, 1998
- ↑ a b c Asher, J., Warren, M., Fox, R., Harding, P., Jeffcoate, G., Jeffcoate, S. with assistance from Greatorex-Davies, N. & Roberts, E .: The Millennium Atlas of Butterflies in Britain and Ireland , University Press, Oxford 2001, ISBN 0-19-850565-5
literature
- J. Kleinekuhle: On the indigenousness and spread of the African bluish Cacyreus marshalli in southern Europe . Atalanta 26: 209-214, 1995
- JHR Thiele, WA Nässig: The blue pelargonium also in Germany . News from the Entomological Association Apollo, Frankfurt am Main, NF 20 (3/4): 290, 2000
- Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-440-07573-7 .
Web links
- www.lepiforum.de Taxonomy and photos
- www.schmetterling-raupe.de
- Cacyreus marshalli at Fauna Europaea
- Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa (English)