Pyrgus bellieri

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Pyrgus bellieri
Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family : Thick-headed butterfly (Hesperiidae)
Subfamily : Pyrginae
Genre : Pyrgus
Type : Pyrgus bellieri
Scientific name
Pyrgus bellieri
( Oberthür , 1910)

Pyrgus bellieri , also known as Provence-Würfeldickkopf, is a butterfly from the family of the thick-headed butterflies (Hesperiidae).

features

The fore wing length of the moth is 14 to 15 millimeters. Taken as a whole, Pyrgus bellieri is very similar to the sun rose cube thick-headed butterfly ( Pyrgus alveus ). He is clearly persistent at the base of the wings. The post-disc spots are large, especially in cells two and three. The light spots on the hind wings are completely and hardly darkly pollinated. The underside of the hind wings is yellow-brown. In addition, they are light spots on average a little stronger than the sun rose-cube-thick-headed butterfly. The female has a more yellowish basic color and the white spots on the upper side are significantly smaller.

The caterpillar is brownish in color and has a black head. She has remarkably long hair.

The pupa has a very strong bluish frosting. It has a brown basic color, which can only be seen at the segment boundaries. The drawing consisting of black dots is still faintly visible through the tires. The thorax has a black longitudinal line on the back.

Geographical occurrence and habitat

Pyrgus bellieri is distributed in southwestern Europe from northern Spain over the eastern Pyrenees and southern France to central Italy . In the north, the distribution area extends into the Hautes-Alpes department and the Piedmont region and as far as Lake Garda . It can be found in the mountains from the bottom of the valley to around 2000 meters above sea level. In lower altitudes the caterpillars often live on the edge of light forests, in higher altitudes on sunny slopes.

Way of life

Pyrgus bellieri is univoltine ; ie only one generation is formed per year. The moths fly from mid-July to early September. The caterpillars feed exclusively on different species of the sun rose ( Helianthemum ) genus . The caterpillar overwinters mostly in the L2 or L3 stage, rarely also in the L4 stage. It is fully grown and ready to pupate at the end of May to June.

Systematics and nomenclature

The species is often found in the literature as Pyrgus foulquieri , a name that was also introduced by Charles Oberthür in 1910. The existence of the species has been questioned again and again until recently and the populations have been assigned to Pyrgus alveus . In one of the most recent works, however, a multivariate analysis is used to work out differences in the male genital apparatus , which shows that there are probably two different species. However, the authors of the study only included specimens from Spain in their investigations. The status of the following subspecies should therefore be re-examined. The population is considered by some authors as an independent species, or is associated with the nominate subspecies ( P. bellieri bellieri ).

  • Pyrgus bellieri picenus ( Verity 1920): This subspecies is only found in central Italy in the mountains between 600 and 1500 meters. The fore wing length is only 13 to 14 millimeters. The basic color of the upper sides of the forewings is a little lighter, the underside of the hind wings is more yellowish, mostly slightly darkly mottled. Both sexes have the same drawings.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ European butterflies and their ecology: Pyrgus onopordi. Wolfgang Wagner, accessed on January 17, 2010 .
  2. ^ A b c Lionel G. Higgins, Norman D. Riley: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa . 1st edition. Paul Parey, Hamburg / Berlin 1978, ISBN 3-490-01918-0 , pp. 278 .
  3. ↑ a b c Wolfgang Wagner: The genus Pyrgus in Central Europe and their ecology - larval habitats, nutrient plants and development cycles . - In: T. Fartmann & G. Hermann (Eds.): Larval ecology of butterflies and rams in Central Europe. Treatises from the Westphalian Museum of Natural History, 68 (3/4): 83–122, Münster 2006
  4. ↑ Juan L. Hernández-Roldán and Miguel L. Munguira: Multivariate analysis techniques in the study of the male genitalia of Pyrgus bellieri (Oberthür 1910) and P. alveus (Hübner 1803) (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae): species discrimination and distribution in the Iberian Peninsula, Annales de la Societé entomologique de France, Nouvelle Series, 44 (2): 145-155, Paris 2008 PDF
  5. ↑ foulquier's grizzled skipper Picenus (Verity 1920). Fauna Europaea, Version 2.1, December 22, 2009, accessed January 18, 2010 .

literature

  • Lionel G. Higgins, Norman D. Riley: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa . 1st edition. Paul Parey, Hamburg / Berlin 1978, ISBN 3-490-01918-0 .
  • Wolfgang Wagner: The genus Pyrgus in Central Europe and its ecology - larval habitats, nutrient plants and development cycles . - In: T. Fartmann & G. Hermann (Eds.): Larval ecology of butterflies and rams in Central Europe. Treatises from the Westphalian Museum of Natural History, 68 (3/4): 83–122, Münster 2006 PDF .
  • Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-440-07573-7 .

Web links