Root burr
Root burr | ||||||||||||
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![]() Heather rootworm ( Phymatopus hecta ) |
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Hepialidae | ||||||||||||
Stephens , 1829 |
The rootworms (Hepialidae) are a family of butterflies (Lepidoptera) that includes around 500 species. With the exception of Madagascar and West Africa, the rootworms are common worldwide.
features
The rootworms are small to huge moths ; only medium-sized to large species occur in Europe. Characteristic are the long, narrow wings with original blood vessels, the mostly elongated abdomen and the short antennae . The moths do not ingest because of the regrettable proboscis, which means that their lifespan as adults is short. The moths are crepuscular or nocturnal; some species are noticeable due to their swarming behavior at dusk, such as the European Hepialus humuli , in which the males buzz over meadows after sunset, which gives the ghostly white colored animals their English name "Ghost Moth".
In contrast to the rest of the butterflies, it is mostly the males of the rootworms that attract the females. This happens partly through the release of pheromones in flight as with Hepialus humuli , partly while sitting as with Phymatopus hecta . On the adjacent picture of a luring male, it is easy to see how the olfactory organ - it is the heavily modified, scented third pair of legs - protrudes between the wings and the body.
In some large species, the females lay more than 30,000 eggs. In some cases, the eggs are dropped in flight over caterpillars ' preferred feeding plants such as ferns , nettles and other herbaceous plants. The caterpillars live in the ground or in corridors lined with silk threads between detritus and parts of plants, where they feed on roots or come out at night to eat leaves. Other species live on ferns, gymnosperms or angiosperms ; still others drill tunnels in roots, stems or branches. In several species, the transition from fungivory (mushroom food) to phytophagy (plant food) has been documented during larval development.
In some high alpine species ( Pharmacis , Aoraia ) comes in females Brachypterie ago: The wings are shorter and so far receded that the females are no longer able to fly; accordingly, gendering is done in the traditional way: the females attract the males.
Species in Europe
- Gazoryctra fuscoargentea
- Huebner 's alpine rootworm ( Gazoryctra ganna )
- Large hop rootworm or ghost moth ( Hepialus humuli )
- Small hop rootworm ( Korscheltellus lupulinus )
- Pharmacis aemiliana
- Pharmacis anselminae
- Pharmacis bertrandi
- Espers alpine rootworm ( Pharmacis carna )
- Pharmacis castillana
- Pharmacis claudiae
- Bracken rootworm ( Pharmacis fusconebulosa )
- Pharmacis pyrenaica
- Heather rootworm ( Phymatopus hecta )
- Triodia adriatica
- Triodia amasina
- Dock rootworm ( Triodia sylvina )
Genera
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/Korscheltellus_lupulinus01.jpg/220px-Korscheltellus_lupulinus01.jpg)
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/Triodia_sylvina01.jpg/220px-Triodia_sylvina01.jpg)
- Abantiades - 14 species found exclusively in Australia
- Aenetus - 24 species; Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, New Guinea and New Caledonia
- Afrotheora - 7 species; South Africa
- Andeabatis - 1 kind; South America
- Antihepialus - 4 types; South and East Africa
- Aoraia - 13 species; New Zealand
- Aplatissa - 2 types; Brazil
- Bipectilus - 8 species; China, Nepal and Vietnam
- Blanchardina - 1 kind; Chile
- Bordaia - 5 species; Australia
- Calada - 2 types; Argentina
- Callipielus - 10 species; South America
- Cibyra - 50 species; Central America and South America
- Cladoxycanus - 1 species; New Zealand
- Dalaca - 23 species; South America
- Dioxycanus - 2 species; New Zealand
- Druceiella - 4 types; South America
- Dumbletonius - 2 species; New Zealand
- Elhamma - 4 types; Australia and New Guinea
- Endoclita - 60 species; Southeast Asia, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh
- Eudalaca - 35 species; South Africa
- Female - 25 species; Australia. An anatomically diverse genus with relatively long antennae and slender body, whose relationship to the Hepialidae family has not yet been established with certainty. This also applies to Afrotheora , Antihepialus and Gazoryctra .
- Gazoryctra - 14 species; Holarctic : Europe, Asia and North America
- Gorgopis - 28 species; South and East Africa
- Heloxycanus - 1 species; New Zealand
- Hepialiscus - 4 types; Taiwan and Nepal
- Hepialus - 1 species, Europe
- Jeana - 2 types; Australia
- Korscheltellus - 2 types; Europe, Canada and the USA
- Leto - 1 kind; South Africa
- Metahepialus - 3 types; South Africa
- Napialus - 3 types; China
- Neohepialiscus - 1 species; Algeria and Tunisia
- Oncopera - 12 species; Australia
- Oxycanus - 71 species; Australia and New Guinea
- Palpifer - 10 species; South and East Asia
- Parahepialiscus - 1 species; Borneo
- Pfitzneriana - 4 species; South America
- Pfitzneriella - 4 types; Ecuador and Peru
- Pharmacis - 8 types; Europe and Asia
- Phassodes - 1 art
- Phassus - 21 species; Mexico to Brazil
- Phialuse - 1 kind; Bolivia
- Phymatopus - 6 species; distributed over the northern hemisphere
- Puermytrans - 1 kind; Chile
- Roseala - 1 kind, Brazil
- Schausiana - 1 kind; Mexico
- Sthenopis - 8 species; North America and China
- Thitarodes - 48 species; East asia
- Trichophassus - 1 species; Brazil
- Trictena - 3 types; Australia
- Triodia - 7 species; Europe and Asia
- Wiseana - 7 species; New Zealand
- Xhoaphryx - 1 species; Vietnam
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Zelotypia - 1 kind; Queensland and New South Wales, Australia
- Zelotypia stacyi - with a wingspan of up to 25 cm, not only the largest hepialid, but also one of the most striking butterfly species
- Zenophassus - 1 kind; Caucasus
swell
literature
- Günter Ebert (Ed.): The Butterflies of Baden-Württemberg Volume 3, Moths I (Root Borers (Hepialidae), Wood Borers (Cossidae), Ram (Zygaenidae), Snail Moth (Limacodidae), Sack Bearer (Psychidae), Window Spot (Thyrididae)). Ulmer Verlag Stuttgart 1993. ISBN 3-8001-3472-1
- Kristensen, NP (1999): The Homoneurous Glossata: 51-63. In: Handbook of Zoology. Volume IV: Arthropoda: Insecta. Part 35. Lepidoptera, Moths and Butterflies. Volume 1: Evolution, Systematics, and Biogeography. Berlin, New York (de Gruyter). ISBN 3-11-015704-7
Web links
- Hepialidae in Fauna Europaea