Biston strataria
Poplar body Dick Spanner ( Biston strataria )
The poplar body Dick Spanner ( Biston strataria ) is a butterfly (moth ) from the family of the tensioner ( Geometridae ). The species is also known as poplar tensioner.
- 3.1 Flight times and caterpillars
- 4.1 Notes and references
- 4.2 Literature
Features
The Poplar Dick Spanner body reaches a wingspan of 40 to 55 millimeters. The forewings are gray white and dusted more or less blackish, the coloration is variable (see forms). The midfield is limited by strong jagged black lines cross, which is adjoined by a large, reddish-brown transverse band. The means shadows are often extinguished and thickened blackish on the front edge. The hind wings have one or two transverse lines, which may be variously pronounced. The proboscis of the moths is much reduced form.
The caterpillars reach a length of up to 55 millimeters. The coloration is variable, ranging from gray brown to purple brown to olive green. The crawler body has on the seventh and eighth segment on each side a back hump and beyond three smaller bumps on the underside of the body. On the eleventh segment is also a transverse ridge. The back is occasionally drawn dark diamond-shaped. The heavily indented head is notched reddish brown and strong.
Similar Species
- Peppered moth ( Biston betularia )
Subspecies
- Biston strataria meridionalis ( Oberthuer, 1913). North Africa.
- Biston strataria strataria ( Hufnagel, 1767)
- Biston strataria hasegawai Inoue, 1955
Molding
- Biston strataria f terraria Weymer. Central and Saumfeld are darkened brownish.
- Biston strataria f robinearia Frings. Wings darkened blackish and with intact drawing.
- Biston strataria courage. melanaria cooking. Wings monochrome deep black without drawing body also black. The wings are light brown. Melanistic mutation.
Synonyms
- Phalaena strataria Hufnagel, 1767
- P. marmorata Sulzer, 1776
- P. prodromaria Denis & Schiffer Müller, 1775
- P. nigricans prodromaria Oberthuer, 1913
- P. vernalis Fourcroy, 1785
- Biston stratarius Hufnagel, 1767
Occurrence
Bergmann describes the Poplar Dick Spanner body as the flagship species of the tree layer of older stocks of oaks in fresh deciduous trees warm layers of the flat and the valleys of the hills. He comes locally throughout Europe with the exception of the far north and the far south before. In the south, its range extends through the whole of the Mediterranean, the Balkans and the Black Sea to Asia Minor and the Caucasus. To the north are the way to southern Fennoscandia. Is often.
Way of life
The females lay eggs on the leaves of various deciduous trees. The caterpillars live singly or in groups, feeding polyphagous of various deciduous trees or shrubs such as
- Linden (Tilia )
- Elm (Ulmus )
- Birch (Betula )
- Poplars (Populus )
- Black poplar (Populus nigra)
- Aspen (Populus tremula )
- Willow ( Salix)
- White willow (Salix alba)
- Purple willow ( Salix purpurea)
- Goat Willow (Salix caprea )
- Maples ( Acer)
- Field Maple (Acer campestre )
- Fruit trees, especially on plum (Prunus )
- Oaks (Quercus )
- English Oak (Quercus robur)
- Red oak ( Quercus rubra)
- Black Currant (Ribes nigrum)
- Raspberry (Rubus idaeus )
- Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa)
- Red Honeysuckle ( Lonicera xylosteum )
The caterpillars are active at night and rest during the day on a branch of a forage crop. The crawler body is stretched diagonally forward so that it resembles a small branch confusingly ( mimesis ).
Pupation takes place around the end of June in the Earth. The species overwinters as a pupa. The moths emerge from February to March in the following year. These are nocturnal and are attracted by artificial light sources. During the day they rest on the trunks or hidden in the vegetation. About the food sources of the moth is not known.
Flight times and caterpillars
The Poplar Dick Spanner body forms a generation in which flies from mid-March, sometimes starting at the end of February in nights with temperatures around the freezing point to the beginning of May. The caterpillars are occasionally to be found from May to July and in August.