Spanner (butterfly)
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Diamond bark tensioner ( Peribatodes rhomboidaria ) |
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| Leach , 1815 |
The Spanner (Geometridae) are a family of butterflies . Around 23,000 species have been described worldwide, making them one of the largest butterfly families. They are counted among the moths , but there are also some species that are diurnal. There are around 1000 species in Europe and 430 species are native to Germany.
features
Characteristics of the moth
The moths reach a wingspan of 10 to 70 millimeters. Almost all species have a slender body that is very rarely short or elongated, most of the time the body is of medium length. The forewings are usually wide and 1.6 to 2.2 times longer than wide. But there are only a few species whose forewings are more than twice as long as they are wide. Their coloring is often gray or brown, but there are numerous very brightly colored and also vividly colored species. The coloring is very variable within the individual species. The hind wings are mostly broadly rounded and about the same width as the forewings. The wings of the males are always well developed, but in some females they are stunted ( brachyptic species, such as the Lesser Frostworm ( Operophthera brumata )) or have no wings ( apter species, such as: the spring -Cross wing ( Alsophila aescularia )). The antennae are short to medium in length and are about 0.4 to 0.6 times as long as the forewings. The antennae of the males are either thread-like, combed or pinnate. They have no point eyes ( ocelli ). Their maxillary palps are strongly regressed, their proboscis are well developed in almost all species, but in some it is reduced. The moths have tympanic organs on the abdomen.
The forewings have 11 or 12 wing veins with mostly one anal vein (1b), but the greatly reduced veins 1a and 1c can be seen. They rarely have two anal veins (1a and 1c). The hind wings have 8 or 9 veins with one (1b or 1a) or two (1a and 1b) anal veins.
Characteristics of the caterpillars
The caterpillars have a very peculiar way of moving and can therefore be recognized without a doubt. Since, in contrast to most other butterfly species, which have four pairs of ventral feet , in addition to the three pairs of breastbones and the follower, they only have one pair of ventral feet, they cannot move like caterpillars . They first cling to the breastbones and pull the abdomen up to the chest so that the body describes the shape of a large omega . Then the caterpillar stretches forwards, clinging to the pusher and the pair of ventral feet, in order to then pull the abdomen back on.
In terms of color and shape, the caterpillars are usually adapted to their surroundings ( mimesis ) and imitate, for example, small branches. This camouflage costume has been developed to great perfection in some species, with small body processes (flesh cones) imitating the break-off points of side branches or buds.
The caterpillars eat sitting freely on their forage plants.
Way of life
The animals are mostly active at night and at dawn, but there are also species such as B. the hard hay spanner ( Siona lineata ), which only fly during the day. What is noticeable about the tensioners is that almost all species have their wings spread out flat in the resting position and thus the hind wings are at least partially visible. Only a few species fold them up so that they are perpendicular to the abdomen or fold them up over the abdomen.
There are some species in Europe that can also be observed in flight during the cold seasons, such as B. the frost wrenches . The females of the cold-loving species are mostly those with reduced or missing wings.
designation
The scientific name Geometridae, which originally comes from ancient Greek , is derived from Geometer (land surveyor). The peculiar way of locomotion of the tensioning caterpillars led to this comparison with the measurement. One can imagine, for example, how span by span is measured along a straight line by stretching out the little finger to the large hand span and dragging the thumb over and over again. The movement of the fingers then resembles the movement of the caterpillar. This is also reflected in the German term "Spanner". The English name of the larva inchworm (Zollwurm) has its origin from this.
Systematics
The Geometridae family is divided into 9 subfamilies.
- Archiearinae Fletcher, 1953
- Alsophilinae Herbulot , 1962
- Desmobathrinae Meyrick, 1886
- Ennominae Duponchel, 1845
- Geometrinae Leach, 1815
- Larentiinae Duponchel, 1845
- Oenochrominae Guenée, 1857
- Orthostixinae Meyrick, 1892
- Sterrhinae Meyrick, 1892
In Europe species have been described so far about 1,000 of which in Central Europe 510 species occur.
Phylogeny
So far there is no consensus on the phylogeny of the Spanner (Geometridae). Therefore, two recently published cladograms are placed side by side without comment. Within the family Geometridae, the subfamilies Archiearinae and Alsophilinae are probably more original than the rest of the families (according to morphological data). According to molecular data, the Archiiearinae form the sister taxon of Ennominae / Geometrinae / Alsophilinae. Due to the new molecular data, the monophyly of the Ennomiinae is under discussion. The Oenochrominae are also a collective group whose genera do not fit into any of the other families, but are probably not closely related to one another.
The cladogram by Holloway (1997) (from) is based e.g. Partly still on morphological data
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The phylogeny of the Geometridae according to Abraham et al. (2001) is based solely on molecular data
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swell
Individual evidence
- ^ Lepidoptera Barcode of Life. Retrieved July 11, 2017 .
- ^ Scoble, MJ: Geometrid Moths of the World: a catalog (Lepidoptera, Geometridae). Vol. 1 and 2 . CSIRO Publishing and Apollo Books, Stenstrup 1999, p. 1016 .
- ↑ Geometridae. Fauna Europaea, accessed January 30, 2007 .
- ↑ Geometridae. Lepiforum eV, accessed on January 30, 2007 .
- ↑ Axel Hausmann: The Geometrid moths of Europe, 1. Introduction, Archiearinae, Orthostixinae, Desmobathrinae, Alsophilinae, Geometrinae. Apollo Books, Stenstrup 2001, ISBN 87-88757-35-8
- ↑ D. Abraham, N. Ryrholm, H. Witt cell, JD Holloway, MJ Scoble, C. Lofstedt: Molecular phylogeny of the subfamilies in Geometridae (geometroidea: Lepidoptera). Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 20 (1): 65-77 (2001)
literature
- Günter Ebert (Ed.): The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg Volume 8, Nachtfalter VI (Spanner (Geometridae) 1st part), Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 2001. ISBN 3-8001-3497-7
- Günter Ebert (Eds.), Daniel Bartsch, Armin Becher et al. The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg Volume 9 (Spanner (Geometridae) 2nd part), Nachtfalter VII. Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 2003. ISBN 3-8001-3279-6
- Axel Hausmann: The Geometrid moths of Europe, 2nd Sterrhinae. Apollo Books, Stenstrup 2004, ISBN 87-88757-37-4
- Vladimir Mironov: The Geometrid moths of Europe, 4. Larentiinae II. Apollo Books, Stenstrup 2004, ISBN 87-88757-40-4
- MJ Scoble: Geometrid moths of the world, a catalog. CSIRO, Collingwood & Apollo Books, Stenstrup 1999, ISBN 87-88757-29-3
- C. Young: Molecular relationships of the Australian Ennominae (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) and implications for the phylogeny of the Geometridae from molecular and morphological data. Zootaxa, 1264: 1-47 (2006)
