Pericallia
Augsburger Bear ( Pericallia matronula )
The Augsburg Bear ( Pericallia matronula ) is a butterfly (moth ) from the subfamily of the tiger moths ( Arctiinae ).
The German name " Augsburger Bear " was created in the 18th century by local butterfly researchers, as there were at that time many connections to Augsburg. So the way was then available in the Lechauen at Augsburg. The Nuremberg naturalist and engraver August Johann Roesel Rosenhof formed the butterfly onto a copper engraving, which he had received from the Augsburg engraver family Ridinger. There are also engravings of living in Augsburg entomologist Christian Friedrich Freyer and Jacob Hübner. Although the species no longer occurs today in Augsburg, the historical name was retained.
Features
The moths reach a wingspan of 65 to 80 millimeters, making them the largest Central European tiger moths. You have dark brown forewings, where several differently shaped light cream -colored patches can be seen along the front edge. A little further is located near the Analwinkels. The hind wings are yellow to light orange, rarely yellow and have several large black spots on. The body is colored red, head and chest are hairy dark, but also have red lots. On abdomen runs along the back, a black point row. The slightly lighter colored wings of the females are wider than those of the males. Her abdomen is thicker.
The caterpillars are a maximum of 100 millimeters long and have first a greenish- yellow body color and are hairy yellow and brown to dark gray in their development and then wear tightly-packed clusters of up to 15 millimeters long, dark reddish-brown and light brown hair.
The pupa is dark brown.
Geographical distribution and habitat
The animals are found in Central Europe and the middle East Europe. They are found but only locally and very rare in island-like deposits that are far apart, such as in the Swabian Alb and in the low parts of the Alps, as in Upper Austria or Styria ( about Gesaeuse National Park ). They live in very warm, humid and steep areas which are adjacent to forests and thickets of high perennials. They prefer rocky areas close to water.
Way of life
The Augsburg bear has a two year development cycle. The moths of the year fly from mid-June to July. The moths are crepuscular and nocturnal, fly but occasionally a day. Especially the males can be very easily attract at night by artificial light. The females lay their whitish- green eggs in loose Eispiegeln from the leaves of forage plants. The caterpillars hatch from August of the first year; they hibernate twice. The caterpillar feeds on various deciduous shrubs of both and of herbaceous plants. In the first year shrubs are preferred eaten, such as hazel (Corylus ), raspberry (Rubus idaeus ), bird cherry (Prunus padus ), ash (Fraxinus ), oak (Quercus ), Sal - willow (Salix caprea ) and honeysuckle ( Lonicera ) in the second year then ground herbs such as dandelion. In May of the next year, the caterpillars pupate in a very solid web into which they incorporate their hair and parts of plants.
Through this long development time and the rare occurrence of the animals results in a two-year cycle in which every second year significantly less or no moth can be observed.
Threats and conservation
The Augsburg bear stands on the Red List of Threatened Species of the Federal Republic of Germany. There he is listed in the category 1 (= threatened with extinction ). The species is considered Kulturflüchter.