Pale-spotted alpine cube thickhead

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Pale-spotted alpine cube thickhead
Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family : Thick-headed butterfly (Hesperiidae)
Subfamily : Pyrginae
Genre : Pyrgus
Type : Pale-spotted alpine cube thickhead
Scientific name
Pyrgus cacaliae
( Rambur , 1839)

The pale- spotted Alpen-Würfeldickkopf ( Pyrgus cacaliae ), also known as Kleinwürfliger Würfelfalter, Kleinwürfliger Dickkopffalter, Alpendickkopf (falter) and Alpen-Würfeldickkopffalter, is a butterfly from the family of the Dickkopffalter (Hesperiidae).

features

The fore wing length is 13 to 15 millimeters. The moths are generally gray-brown in color. There are small white spots on the forewings. On the underside of the hind wings, mostly not sharply delimited white spots can be seen. In addition, the inner edge is significantly darker. Both sexes have the same markings, but the males are a little darker in color.

The caterpillar is usually dark in color with a darker topline. In ex-ovo-breeders, clay-yellow colored caterpillars were often observed in the last two stages. The head shield is black.

The head and wing sheaths of the pupa are bluish frosted; in the case of the abdomen, which is brown in its basic color, only the segment boundaries are left out. The ventral side has a distinctive drawing, consisting of a black central bar and two black dots on each side. The back side also shows black dots and lines. The dorsal cremaster is red-brown in color.

Geographical occurrence and habitat

The small-cube-thick-headed butterfly is native to the high Alps (France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany), the Pyrenees , the Southern Carpathians (only locally) and the high mountains of the eastern Balkan peninsula (Rila and Pirin) in Bulgaria, whereby the Occurrence in the Pyrenees is doubtful. In 2010, when historical material was revised, a find for Bosnia and Herzegovina was documented. However, since the pale-spotted alpine cube-headed head mistakenly assigned by Rebel to Pyrgus andromedae comes from Bosnia, its actual distribution for the Dinarides in the Western Balkans can only be confirmed with methods of inventorying material in zoological collections. He can be found on alpine meadows and high mountain meadows between 1000 and 2500 meters. In the Alps, the maximum distribution is between 1700 and 2500 meters above sea level. For the Rila Mountains in Bulgaria , 1800 to 2800 meters are given.

Way of life

The development of the species extends in kind over two or rarely three years. The caterpillar usually overwinters in the first or second instar for the first time. The second overwintering takes place either as a pupa or in cool summers as an L3 or L4 caterpillar, which then pupates in the third year and hibernates for a third time. The development is temperature controlled. The respective winter rest is controlled by the low night temperatures that set in early in the high mountains. In breeding under ideal temperature conditions (constant 27 to 28 °) the development cycle from egg to pupa is nine to eleven weeks (with seven days in the egg). After three weeks of pupal rest, all three bred pupae hatched without "winter rest". The moths fly from June to July, with some stragglers in cool summers until early August. In the extremely warm spring of 2003, some butterflies were found at the end of May. The eggs are deposited individually on the underside of the leaves of the host plants close to the ground. The caterpillars feed exclusively on different types of finger herbs ( Potentilla ). The younger caterpillars live in a housing between the leaves, the older caterpillars are found closer to the ground.

Danger

The species is generally very rare in Germany or has very narrow regional limits. U. but occur relatively frequently there. It does not seem to be endangered or there is no anthropogenically triggered population decline to be observed.

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Red Lists
  2. ^ A b 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. 284 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e Wolfgang Wagner: Observations on the biology of Pyrgus andromedae (Wallengren, 1853) and Pyrgus cacaliae (Rambur, 1840) in the Alps (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae). Entomologische Zeitschrift, 113 (12): 346-353, Stuttgart 2003, page 347 ff.
  4. ↑ Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-440-07573-7 , p. 258 .
  5. ↑ 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, page 87

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 .
  • Tom Tolman, Richard Lewington: The butterflies of Europe and Northwest Africa . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-440-07573-7 .
  • Wolfgang Wagner: Observations on the biology of Pyrgus andromedae (Wallengren, 1853) and Pyrgus cacaliae (Rambur, 1840) in the Alps (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae). Entomologische Zeitschrift, 113 (12): 346–353, Stuttgart 2003 PDF
  • 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 .

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