White sickle-winged

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White sickle-winged
White sickle-winged (Cilix glaucata)

White sickle- winged ( Cilix glaucata )

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family : Owl Moth and Sicklewing (Drepanidae)
Subfamily : Drepanidae (Drepaninae)
Genre : Cilix
Type : White sickle-winged
Scientific name
Cilix glaucata
( Scopoli , 1763)
White sickle- winged caterpillar ( Cilix glaucata )
White sickle-winged winged wing

The White drepanidae , Silver Spanner or Silberspinnerchen ( Cilix glaucata ) is a butterfly from the family of owls spinners and drepanidae (Drepanidae).

description

The moths reach a wingspan of 18 to 22 millimeters, making them the smallest sickle-winged in Central Europe. They have porcelain-white wings, with a series of small gray spots along the outer edge of the fore wing and on the inner edge with a large dark brown spot that turns yellowish and gray towards the middle of the wing. Within this spot there are isolated, silvery, shiny scales . In contrast to the other sickle-winged animals, the animals have only rounded and no curved wing tips. When they sit in their resting position with their wings set up in the shape of a roof, they imitate bird droppings with their appearance ( bird droppings mimetics ). Their antennae are only lightly combed.

In southern Europe, the differentiation from the closest related species is often only possible with the help of genital morphological features.

The caterpillars are approx. 12 millimeters long and dark brown. Her chest is clearly thickened and the end of the abdomen drawn out to a narrow point.

Similar species

  • Cilix hispanica Pérez De-Gregorio, Torruella, Miret, Casas & Figueras, 2002. Spain, Southern France, Corsica, Southern Italy, Algeria
  • Cilix algirica Leraut, 2006. Morocco, Algeria, Portugal, presumably also in Spain
  • Cilix asiatica Bang-Haas, 1907. Turkey to Iran

Occurrence

They occur in Europe north to Ireland , Denmark and southern Sweden . They live on sunny and warm forest edges, slopes and hedges, on bushy dry grass and heather , but also in parks. They are particularly common in southern and central Germany .

Way of life

Flight and caterpillar times

The nocturnal moths fly in two generations from late April to early June and from July to mid-August. In favorable years, a third generation can develop from the end of August to the end of September. The caterpillars from the eggs of the first generation are found from August to September, those of the second from May to June of the following year.

Food of the caterpillars

The caterpillars feed mainly on blackthorn ( Prunus spinosa ) and single hawthorn ( Crataegus monogyna ) but also on other shrubs of the rose family and Prunus species.

development

The females lay their eggs one by one on the leaves of the forage plants. The caterpillars are also nocturnal and lie motionless on branches during the day. They pupate in a brown cocoon , which is often spun between a leaf and a branch. The generations that do not complete their development before winter hibernate as pupae .

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Manfred Koch : We identify butterflies. Volume 2: Bears, Spinners, Swarmers and Drills in Germany. 2nd, expanded edition. Neumann, Radebeul / Berlin 1964, DNB 452481929 , p. 102f.

literature

  • Heiko Bellmann : The new Kosmos butterfly guide. Butterflies, caterpillars and forage plants. Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-440-09330-1 .
  • Günter Ebert (Ed.): The Butterflies of Baden-Württemberg Volume 4, Moths II (Bombycidae, Endromidae, Lemoniidae, Saturniidae, Sphingidae, Drepanidae, Notodontidae, Dilobidae, Lymantriidae, Ctenuchidae, Nolidae). Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1994. ISBN 3-800-13474-8
  • Hans-Josef Weidemann, Jochen Köhler: Moths. Weirdos and hawkers. Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1996, ISBN 3-89440-128-1 .

Web links

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