Acronicta strigosa
Welts moth ( Acronicta strigosa )
The welts moth ( Acronicta strigosa ), deciduous shrub Striemeneule is a butterfly (moth ) from the family of cutworms ( Noctuidae ).
- 6.1 Notes and references
- 6.2 Literature
Features
Butterfly
The moths of the welts moth belong with a wingspan of about 27 to 31 millimeters of the smallest species of the genus Acronicta. They have light to dark gray to dark brown as the base color forewing. Strikingly a clear, black Wurzelstrieme, a Mittelstrieme and a tornale bruise. The inner and outer cross- line and clearly marked twice. The outer jagged transverse line is strongly angled between the tornalen bruise and the rear edge and jump far back. The middle shade is well developed only on the front edge. The hem line is indicated by black dots. The ring flaw is outlined in black with a very small central black dot. However, the border is frequently interrupted or incomplete. The more or less filled light brown kidney flaws can be black margins to the inner edge down also. The fringes are colored light gray. The hind wings are light gray and slightly darker to the terms out. On the lower sides of rear and front wings a median line are respectively formed, in addition to the hind wings have a Diskalfleck.
Caterpillar, and chrysalis
The caterpillars come in two colors, either green with brown back or completely brown. They have few, short, fine hair. The slim doll is light brown in color. The cremaster is short and provided with spines.
Geographical distribution and habitat
In Europe, the species is distributed locally, south to the Pyrenees and Cantabria, the Alpine region to Slovenia and northern Greece, north respectively to the south of Denmark, Sweden and Finland, east to the Urals. The distribution area further extends through Siberia to the Far East ( Russian Far East, northern China, Japan, Korea). According to Hacker ( in Ebert ) their occurrence is probably in Asia Minor, as it was also found in the Caucasus. In southern England it is, however, not been detected since 1933; the population is extinct. But an immigrant moth was found in East Sussex in 1996. Nevertheless, it is often still well south of England quoted in the dissemination of information or drawn in the distribution maps.
The animals prefer to live in lowland forests and stream and river valleys with high humidity, but also in moderately warm climate areas. In the Alps, they do not rise above 1200 meters altitude.
Way of life
The welts moth is usually two generations per year. The moths of the first generation fly from June to July, the second generation in August and September. Often, the generations are not clearly separated, but overlap somewhat. In the northern part of the range, only a generation is formed, whose moth fly from late May to August also fly in the mountains only in July. The moths are nocturnal visit and artificial light sources as well as bait.
The caterpillars feed on polyphagous; mainly from the leaves of hawthorns (Crataegus ), but also on other deciduous trees such as birch (Betula ), privet ( Ligustrum ), buckthorn ( Rhamnus ), Prunus (including sour cherry (Prunus cerasus), blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) and plum (Prunus domestica) ), flour berries ( Sorbus ), pear (Pyrus ) and apples (Malus ). They pupate in soft, rotting wood or peat. The pupa overwinters.
Endangering
The species is rare almost everywhere in Germany and is on the Red List of endangered species in Category 2 ( high risk ) out. In some states, it is already extinct in the other critically endangered ( category 1) or endangered ( category 2). Only in Mecklenburg- Western Pomerania, it is considered "just" in the category 3 ( endangered).
System
The species is of Fibiger et al. (2009) placed in the subgenus Hyboma Hübner, 1820. The three species of this subgenus of Acronicta are common in the Far East. But only the distribution area of Acronicta ( Hyboma ) strigosa ( [ Denis & Schiffer Müller], 1775) extends to Western Europe.