Pelopidas thrax
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Pelopidas thrax |
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| ( Huebner , 1821) |
Pelopidas thrax is a butterfly from the family of the thick-headed butterflies (Hesperiidae). The species can occur as a pest on rice plants through mass reproduction. Due to the similarity or identity of the species name, the species is often confused with Erionota thrax (Linné, 1767), which also belongs to the thick-headed butterflies.
features
The moths have a wingspan of 35 to 42 mm. The basic color of the fore and hind wings is brown. The top has a series of white spots of different sizes. In the males, the upper side of the forewings shows a narrow, white scented scented spot . The translucent spots are arranged differently than in Gegenes nostrodamus and Gegenes pumilio .
The egg is yellowish at first and later turns salmon-colored. It is flattened, about 0.9mm high and 1.5mm in diameter. The surface is covered with approx. 60 very fine elongated ribs, which take up about two thirds of the height (calculated from the base). They cross with horizontal lines. The egg caterpillars hatch after eight days.
The caterpillar becomes up to 35 mm long (L6 stage). The body is light green with a darker back line. The secondary back lines and the side lines are lighter than the base color. The head is light brown, often with a dark brown line around the head. Six larval stages are formed.
The doll is about 32 mm long, relatively slender with a 3 mm long extension on the head that points slightly up or down. It is yellowish white with a slightly lighter subdorsal line. The proboscis sheath extends a segment beyond the wing sheaths.
Geographical distribution and habitat
Pelopidas thrax occurs in Greece, west and south-west Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, Iran to Pakistan and in Africa.
The species is only known in Greece from the islands of Samos and Rhodes , where it can be found at altitudes of 0 to 75 meters. There may be deposits on other islands close to Turkey . The species inhabits dry, hot and grassy areas in low-lying areas of the coast. Also in the rest of the distribution area, the species prefers dry and hot areas where the host plants still grow.
Way of life
The generation progression of the species is still largely unknown and, due to its large distribution area, should also be very different. In Greece, the moths fly in June. Two generations are trained in Turkey, the first generation moths fly from May to July, the second generation moths from late September to mid-October. The ontogeny was only recently studied using material from Oman.
The moths are slow but powerful fliers. The species is considered a migrant butterfly .
The females lay the eggs one by one on the forage plants.
It is not known which plants the caterpillars feed on in Europe. In North Africa they feed on millet ( Panicum miliaceum ). The species sometimes occurs as a grain pest in Lebanon. From East Africa it is stated that the caterpillar eats grass. In Oman, Saccharum kajkaiense has been identified as a host plant.
The caterpillars live in hiding places that they make from leaves of the food plant. Young caterpillars roll up the side ends of a leaf until the two edges meet and fix them in place with strands of filament. They feed from hiding on the leaf distally or basally. Larger caterpillars create a tubular hiding place from several leaves that are spun together.
Pupation takes place in a web in the hiding place of the adult caterpillar. The interior is lined with a thin layer of a white, waxy substance that was not found on the doll itself. Pupae collected outdoors gave the moth after 13 days at the latest in breeding. H. the dolls rest for at least two weeks.
Systematics and nomenclature
The systematics and nomenclature of this species are intricate. In 1767, Carl von Linné described a butterfly under P [apilio] on p. 794 of the 12th edition of the Systema Naturae . P [lebejus Urbicola]. Thrax. He refers to Figure 2 on Plate 42 in the work "Icones insectorum rariorum" by Carl Alexander Clerck , which was published in 1764.
In his work "Collection of Exotic Butterflies", Jacob Hübner depicted a butterfly under the name Gegenes thrax on Plate 150 published in 1821 ; there is no description of it. It is not identical to the species Linnaeus described as Papilio thrax . In the "Contributions to the Collection of Exotic Butterflies", which Jacob Hübner started in 1818 and was later continued by Carl Geyer , Carl Geyer noted in 1837 that Jacob Hübner did not want to list a new species, but the one depicted there Has mistakenly identified the butterfly with the Linnaeus species. Since this note does not come from Huebner himself, it cannot be decided whether Huebner actually wanted to establish a new species or whether the Linnaeus species had merely transferred to the genus Gegenes and a different species had erroneously identified with the Linnaeus species. In the latter case, the name Gegenes thrax would not be available. Most authors see Huebner's publication as a proposal for a new species or a new scientific name; i. e. Gegenes thrax Hübner, 1821. Paul Mabille established the new genus Erionota in 1878 , in 1893 EY Watson designated Papilio thrax Linné, in 1767 as the type species of Erionote . The butterfly published by Carl Geyer in 1837 under the name Celaenorrhinus Thrax as a continuation of Hübner's work is neither identical to Papilio thrax Linné, 1767 nor to Gegenes thrax Hübner, 1821. Watson (1891) placed this specimen in the synonymy of Hesperia mathias Fabricius, 1798 (today Pelopidas mathias ). The type species of Pelopidas Walker, 1870 is Pelopidas midea Walker, 1870, a younger, subjective synonym of Pelopidas thrax (Hübner, 1821).
Due to the similarity of the names and the complicated nomenclature as well as the similarity of the two species themselves, numerous confusions have occurred (and still do) in the literature. So was z. B. A thick-headed butterfly species that was introduced to Hawaii and caused damage in banana plantations is called Pelopidas thrax . It is confused with Erionota thrax . In addition, Opler made it clear that the species occurring in Hawaii is not Erionota thrax , but Erionota torus Evans.
Cock (2009) suggests the possibility that Pelopidas thrax could be a species complex of several, very closely related species. Given the very large range of the species, this is not unlikely.
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-440-07573-7 , p. 275 .
- ↑ Ken Pennington, CGC Dickson, Douglas M. Kroon: Pennington's Butterflies of Southern Africa. 670 pp., Ad. Donker, 1978
- ↑ a b c d e Matthew JW Cock: Observations on the biology of Pelopidas thrax (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae: Hesperiinae) in the Hajar Mountains, Oman. Tribulus, 18: 42-49, 2009 PDF
- ^ VGL van Someren: List of Foodplants of some East African Rhopalocera, with notes on the early stages of some Lycaenidae. Journal of the Lepidopterists Society, 28 (4): 315-331, New Haven, Conn., 1974 PDF
- ^ Carl von Linné: Systema naturæ, Tom. I. Pars II. Editio duodecima reformata. pp.533-1327, Salvius, Holmiæ / Stockholm.
- ^ Carl Alexander Clerck: Icones insectorum rariorum. Sect. secunda cum nominibus trivialibus logisque e nob. equ. Linnæi systemate naturali adjectis. 5 p., Panels 17-55. Holmiæ / Stockholm.
- ^ Jacob Huebner: Collection of exotic butterflies. 1. Volume, 213 plates, Verlag der Hübner'schen Werke, Augsburg, 1806ff
- ↑ Carl Geyer: Contributions to the collection of exotic butterflies consisting in announcing individual sexes, new or rare species (continuation of Hübner's work). Fifth hundred. Verlag der Hübner'schen Werke, Augsburg 1837. '
- ^ Paul Mabille: Catalog des Hespérides du Musée Royal d'Histoire Naturelle de Bruxelles. Annales de la Société entomologique de Belgique, 4th series, 18: 12-44, Brussels 1878 p.34
- ↑ Butterflies and Moths of the World Generic Names and their Type-species - Erionota
- ^ EY Watson: Descriptions of the Hesperiidae of India, Burma and Ceylon. Vest & Co., Madras 1891
- ↑ Butterflies and Moths of the World Generic Names and their Type-species - Pelopidas
- ↑ GY Funasaki, PY Lai, LM Nakahara, JW Beardsley and AK Ota: A review of biological control introductions in Hawaii: 1890 to 1985. Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society, 28: 105-160, 1988 Online .
- ^ Paul A. Opler & Andrew D. Warren: Butterflies of North America. 2. Scientific Names List for Butterfly Species of North America, north of Mexico. PDF ( Memento of the original from March 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) 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.
Web links
- Lepiforum e. V. Taxonomy and Photos
- Crop Knowledge Master (English)
- Pelopidas thrax at Fauna Europaea