Dry grass bulbs

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Dry grass bulbs
Lycia zonaria, male

Lycia Zonaria ( Lycia zonaria ), male

Systematics
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family : Spanner (Geometridae)
Subfamily : Ennominae
Tribe : Bistonini
Genre : Lycia
Type : Dry grass bulbs
Scientific name
Lycia zonaria
( Denis & Schiffermüller , 1775)
Lycia Zonaria
(Lycia zonaria) ,
females
Eggs in the plant stem

The Lycia Zonaria ( Lycia zonaria ) is a butterfly ( moth ) from the family of the tensioner (Geometridae).

features

butterfly

There is a strong sexual dimorphism between the two sexes .

The male moths reach a wingspan of 27 to 34 millimeters. The forewings are gray-brown in color and show very high-contrast white transverse lines that frame the post- disk region . In addition, a white, often wedge-shaped longitudinal line runs parallel to the front edge. The hind wings shimmer in the basic color of the forewings, but are paler in color and also show light transverse lines. The antennae are combed.

The flightless females only have pointed wing stubs about two to three millimeters long, a plump body shape and a gray-brown color with reddish hair. The spaces between the abdominal rings are lighter.

egg

The egg is greenish, yellowish or whitish in color. Before the caterpillar hatches, it shimmers bluish.

Caterpillar

Adult caterpillars show a gray-green or blue-gray basic color and are covered with black dots. Noticeable is a wide yellow side stripe, which is bordered by a black line at the top.

Doll

The doll is red-brown in color and has a forked tip on the cone-shaped cremaster .

Similar species

  • In the alpine spanner ( Lycia alpina ), the male wing markings are less contrasting, the white wedge in the middle of the forewings is missing.

Geographical distribution and occurrence

The dry grass bulge is widespread through Central Europe to Russia . The populations found in a few places in England and Wales are called ssp. britannica , those from the Urals as ssp. called rossica . The nominate form is found in southwest Spain and France , but is absent in the Mediterranean region . The northern occurrence extends to Denmark and southern Sweden . The species is a typical inhabitant of dry grasslands , but also occurs on the edges of forests, sandy slopes and in heather areas.

Way of life

The moths form one generation a year and live mainly in March and April, sometimes into May, for about three weeks. The males visit artificial light sources , the females are usually found resting on stems in the vegetation. The diurnal caterpillars can be found from May to July. The eggs are not laid on the food plants of the caterpillars, but on dry blades of grass between the stem and the leaf. The caterpillars live polyphagous on various low plants. These include meadow sage ( Salvia pratensis ), mugwort ( Artemisia campestris ), red clover ( Trifolium pratense ), marguerite ( Leucanthemum vulgare ), sickle clover ( Medicago sativa ) and horn clover - ( lotus ), knapweed - ( Centaurea ), yarrow - ( Achillea ), rattlespot ( Rhinanthus ) and species of Esparsette ( Onobrychis ). The species hibernates as a pupa buried in the ground.

Danger

The dry grass tiger is on the Red List of Endangered Species in Category 2 (endangered), but is threatened with extinction or has been lost in some German federal states. Intensive fertilization of the meadows increasingly restricts the species' habitat. The species shows strong population fluctuations, so the species was rediscovered in the state of Salzburg in 1983 after it had not been sighted for 20 years. In the case of an occurrence near Munich, observation since the rediscovery in 2009 counted from a few to over 300 males in one day.

Synonyms

  • Biston zonaria
  • Nyssia zonaria

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Walter Forster, Theodor A. Wohlfahrt: The butterflies of Central Europe. Volume 5: Spanner. (Geometridae). Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-440-04951-5 .
  2. ↑ a b c Günter Ebert (Ed.): The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg. Volume 9. Moths VII. Geometridae 2nd part . 1st edition. Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2003, ISBN 3-8001-3279-6 .
  3. ↑ a b Annette von Scholley-Pfab, Jochen Goldsche, Christine Neumann: On the current occurrence of Lycia zonaria (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775) in the Bavarian Tertiary hill country and pre-alpine gravel plates (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) . In: Münchner Entomologische Gesellschaft (Ed.): News sheet of the Bavarian entomologists . tape 67 , no. 3/4 , 2018, p. 97-100 .
  4. ↑ Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Ed.): Red List of Endangered Animals in Germany . Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster 1998, ISBN 3-89624-110-9 .

literature

  • Günter Ebert (Ed.): The butterflies of Baden-Württemberg. Volume 9. Moths VII. Geometridae 2nd part . 1st edition. Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2003, ISBN 3-8001-3279-6 .
  • Walter Forster , Theodor A. Wohlfahrt : The butterflies of Central Europe. Volume 5: Spanner. (Geometridae). Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1981, ISBN 3-440-04951-5 .

Web links

Commons : Dry Grass Thick Body Spanner  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files