Polyploca ridens
Moss green owl moth ( Polyploca ridens )
The Moss Green Owl Moth ( Polyploca ridens ) is a butterfly of the family of Sichelflügler ( Drepanidae ).
- 5.1 Notes and references
- 5.2 Literature
Features
The moths reach a wingspan of 30 to 35 millimeters. They have very variable colored front and rear wings. The front wings have at the base a usually narrow white spikes binding and in the middle a very broad dark transverse band. Inside this binder you will find similar rings like the Eyes Owl Moth ( Tethea ocularis ) that are gray interior and includes but black. In addition there are numerous dark and light brown spots. The front wings are dusted more or less moss green. The hind wings are white, dark at the edge. The antennae are reddish brown.
The caterpillars are about 35 mm long and have yellow-green and yellow longitudinal stripes and patterns. On each segment, they have a transverse row of many white and a few black dots. For pale colored animals these may be missing. Young animals have very large, flowing into each other black dots and wear more black than green, older animals have almost no black spots more.
Occurrence
They come in southern and central Europe and in the south of England, Denmark, southern Sweden before east to western Russia. They live in warm, dry oak forests and deciduous forests with tall oak stake and also to the Gentiles. You are not frequent.
Way of life
Flight times and caterpillars
The animals fly in one generation from late March to early June. The caterpillars are held from May to June.
Food of the caterpillars
The caterpillars eat the leaves of pedunculate oak (Quercus robur ), but also those of other oaks (Quercus ). Occasionally, they are also predators feed on their own like caterpillars of other species of butterflies.
Development
The females lay their eggs singly in the early -to-find in oak sprouting buds between the individual scales from. The nocturnal caterpillars keep the day in two spun each other oak leaves on. They live mainly in young oak bushes or on low branches of older trees. They pupate between spun leaves and overwinter as a pupa on or in the ground.