Window stain

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Window stain
Arniocera auriguttata

Arniocera auriguttata

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Subordination : Glossata
Superfamily : Thyridoidea
Family : Window stain
Scientific name
Thyrididae
Herrich-Schäffer , 1846

The window spots (Thyrididae) are a family of butterflies (Lepidoptera). Around 760 species of them are known worldwide to date , another 450 from a collection in the Natural History Museum in London have not yet been named. There is only one species in Europe , the clematis window spot ( Thyris fenestrella ). Their main area of ​​distribution are the tropics and subtropics , in which they mainly colonize forests in low elevations.

features

The moths reach a wingspan of 12 to 72 millimeters and are somewhat similar to tensioners . Their forewings are relatively broad and mostly brown or reddish brown in color. Some species imitate dead leaves ( mimesis ). So z. B. the long-legged Siculodes aurorula , as Adrian Hoskins documented in Trinidad. In numerous species, the wings have flake-free areas: window spots . - Only a few species have very small point eyes ( Ocelli ) next to the compound eyes . The surface of the latter is sometimes covered with fine hairs. The antennae are mostly thread-shaped but also combed or feathered. Your Maxillarpalpen are very short, the labial palps are usually three, rarely bipartite, the proboscis is regressed or stunted in many ways. When it is normally developed, it is flaky at the base. The females have a short ovipositor . Some species of the subfamily Siculodinae have tympanic organs at the base of their wings, but all species of the family lack them on the thorax and abdomen .

In addition to the thoracic legs, the caterpillars have all four pairs of abdominal legs and the pusher .

Way of life

The day, night or crepuscular moths sit in a resting position with their middle pairs of legs raised. They also curve their wings strongly upwards, with the leading edge of the wing forming the highest point.

The caterpillars usually live in rolled up leaves or drill into branches, some also cause plant gall . They eat in 30 plant families, especially on spurge (Euphorbiaceae), legumes (Fabaceae), Sapotengewächsen (Sapotaceae), Myrtengewächsen (Myrtaceae), wing fruit plants (Dipterocarpaceae), caper plants (Capparaceae) and Wing seed plants (Combretaceae).

Systematics

The window stains were formerly part of the superfamily Pyraloidea , as it was thought that they were related to the moths (Pyralidae). The caterpillars of both families are very similar, but the moths have no tympanic organs on their abdomen and their proboscis are not scaled, which is why they are now part of a separate superfamily, the thyridoidea.

Species (Europe)

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Niels P. Kristensen: Lepidoptera, moths and butterflies . In: Maximilian Fischer (Ed.): Handbook of Zoology . 1st edition. tape 4 - Arthropoda: Insecta , volume 35. de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1998, ISBN 3-11-015704-7 (English).
  2. ↑ Thyrididae in Fauna Europaea. Retrieved February 10, 2007
  3. ↑ a b c Malcolm J. Scoble: The Lepidoptera: Form, Function and Diversity . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1995, ISBN 0-19-854952-0 , pp. 282 f . (English).

literature

  • Günter Ebert: The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg . 1st edition. tape 3 . Moths I. Root borer (Hepialidae), wood borer (Cossidae), ram (Zygaenidae), snail moth (Limacodidae), sack bearer (Psychidae), window stain (Thyrididae) . Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 1994, ISBN 3-8001-3472-1 .

Web links

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