Achlya flavicornis
Yellow Horn Owl Moth ( Achlya flavicornis )
The Yellow Horn Owl Spinner or Spinner Earliest Owls ( Achlya flavicornis ) is a butterfly (moth ) from the family of Sichelflügler ( Drepanidae ).
- 5.1 Notes and references
- 5.2 Literature
Features
The Yellow Horn Owl Spinner has silvery gray forewings whose leading edge is somewhat lighter colored and on which run black, wavy transverse lines. The ring brokering are grayish white and outlined in black. The forewing outer margin is alternately colored light and dark gray, the wing coloration of the animals to be highly variable. The rear wings are brightened at the base, otherwise unpainted gray. The antennae are reddish-brown.
The caterpillars reach a length of up to 33 millimeters and come either before in a red-brown or schwärzlichgrauen variant. The drawing, which consists of a series of black and white spots, occurs particularly evident in the schwärzlichgrauen variation in appearance. The neck plate is blackish and is bisected by a white line. The head is obscured light brown and occasionally black front with all versions.
Occurrence
The animals come into central and northern Europe, east to Japan before. You can meet them in particular in birch or mixed deciduous forests, but also in verheideten bogs. The species is to heights of 800 meters from the plane - sometimes over 1,000 meters - have been found.
Way of life
The eggs are laid singly or preferably in small groups in the branches of young shoots or buds approaches. They are gray, orange, depending on the state of development or colored raspberry to ruby red. The caterpillars prefer to live on young, bushy birch and are rarely found on lower branches of older trees. During the day they hide in rolled leaves. The species pupates in July on or in the ground in a sparse cocoon between leaves or moss and hibernates. The moths emerge the following spring. But the dolls can also be another year.
Flight times and caterpillars
As the common name " Earliest Owls Spinner " suggests, it is in this type one of the earliest in the year. So they fly in one generation from mid-March to late April. The caterpillars are found from May to early July. The type flies after sunset and is often observed to artificial light sources. The male moths are active even on sunny days and are then commonly found on birch sap bleeding.
Food of the caterpillars
How, for example, the Birches Owl Moth ( Tetheella fluctuosa ) feed the caterpillars monophagous from the leaves of birch (Betula ).
Endangering
The Yellow Horn Owl Spinner is performed in some states on the red list:
- Baden -Württemberg 3 (endangered )
- Rhineland- Palatinate 4 (potentially compromised )