Chazara briseis

Mountain Witch ( Chazara briseis )

The Mountain Witch ( Chazara briseis ) is a butterfly ( butterfly ) of the family Nymphalidae ( Nymphalidae ).

  • 6.1 Notes and references

Features

The moths reach a wingspan of 45 to 60 millimeters, the females are larger than males and both are significantly larger than in the north of its range in the south. The wings are dark brown with a broad, composed of transverse oval creamy white spots longitudinal fascia that is formed on the hind wings distinct. The front edge of the forewing is mostly poured white and brown in the males. The underside of the hind wings varies from yellow-brown to gray-brown and has two ill-defined dark binding. In females, the white band is wider on the upper wing surface and the edge of the forewing mostly cream-colored. The pattern on the hindwing underside is poured over blurry gray and brown. The females come in two forms. Pirata The rare in Europe and in Asia more frequent form has a leather- yellow instead of a creamy white napkin.

The noun form ssp. briseis occurs in southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the ssp. bataia flies in central Germany and Bohemia. In this form, the white bars on the upper wing surface are more or less reduced. When similar small Grayling ( Hipparchia alcyone ), the white napkins are always interrupted by continuous and never.

The egg has a series of transverse and longitudinal ribs. The caterpillars are about 30 mm long and are light yellow-brown. They have a dark brown back strip which is brightened at the segment boundaries a bit and two brown side stripes. The doll is shiny brown.

Similar Species

  • Small forest porter ( Hipparchia alcyone )

Occurrence

The heat-loving animals occur on dry sandy or rocky places of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula by France, southern and central Europe east to central Asia. The northern distribution limit in Europe is around 50 ° North. They are found only in Corsica, Sicily and Cyprus in the Mediterranean.

In North Africa, the species is common in central Europe it occurs only locally, on limestone formations sometimes even frequently. Except in limestone areas you will find the kind of semi-dry grasslands and screes. The vertical distribution ranges in North Africa up to 2000 meters.

Way of life

The moths fly in one generation a year from mid-July to mid-September. They like to sit with folded wings on wind-protected tree trunks and rocks, which is an excellent camouflage. The folded wings are perpendicular to the sun aligned (lateral absorption Sonner ). The females attach their eggs singly on dry grass stalks. The hatched caterpillars then look on a suitable food plant. They overwinter adolescent and pupate in the next year in a hole in the ground.

The main food plants of the caterpillars are:

Endangering

The Mountain Witch is in Germany endangered ( in Saxony is the kind extinct, threatened in Baden- Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse and Rhineland -Palatinate extinction, endangered and vulnerable in Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt ).

In Germany the spread is declining. In Baden- Württemberg it is now only in the east of the Swabian Alb, but was once widespread in the Neckar -Tauber country and on the Swabian Alb with a number of sites and there was an isolated population in the Hegau. In northern Bavaria exists only one population for which there is a species conservation program since 2008.

In Austria, the Witch Mountain is threatened with extinction. Apart from Lower Austria, where she is at high risk, it is in all other states in which it was proved extinct or lost.

Synonyms

  • Satyrus briseis
  • Hipparchia briseis

Swell

Satyrinae Genus Heiko Bellmann
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