Cerura erminea
White -tailed ( Cerura erminea )
The White -tailed or ermine moth ( Cerura erminea ) is a butterfly (moth ) from the family of the tooth Spinner ( Notodontidae ).
- 2.1 food of the caterpillars
- 5.1 Literature
Features
The moths reach a wingspan of 50 to 70 millimeters. You have a much lighter ground color than Cerura vinula, which is almost completely white. In addition, the front wings are decorated with black lines and dots. The body is drawn with very broad black cross bands at the top which clearly broader than the intervening white stripes are back. Only the rear part of the abdomen, and the underside is mostly white.
The caterpillars are about 70 mm long. They are very similar to the moth which the Great fork tail. They have a dark, reddish-brown back spot, which is on the edge of white and extends down in the middle of the body up to the abdominal legs. There, to the rear is a wider white border to find. They also wear a dark -tailed and have strong biting tools. The sternum pairs are dark brown. The caterpillars are also very dark in their youth and discolored reddish brown before pupation.
Similar Species
- Large -tailed ( Cerura vinula )
Occurrence
They come in Southern and Central Europe east to Japan before, but missing in northwest Europe, in Scandinavia, the UK and parts of the Mediterranean region. They live in moist areas with stocks their food plants, particularly in lowland forests. They are rarer than the Large -tailed, but come, for example, in eastern Germany Brandenburg frequently.
Food of the caterpillars
The caterpillars feed mainly on the leaves of quaking aspen (Populus tremula ) and other poplar species, more rarely, of sallow (Salix caprea ), basket willow ( Salix viminalis ) and other narrow-leaved willow species.
Way of life
The nocturnal moths fly annually in a brood from May to July in warm climates but also in a second. The caterpillars have just like the Big fork of the tail a remarkable defensive behavior. Pull the head into the first chest segment and stretch the enemy the red area around it and the apparent eyes meet. By drawing the caterpillar is also much thicker. In addition, they can out of the double tail at the end of the abdomen, depending evaginate a long red hose that can perform trembling movements. If the bead is further irritated they can out of a gap at the bottom of the head opposite squirt formic acid, which is produced in a gland. You can spray about 30 inches wide.
Development
The females lay their strongly flattened, lens-shaped, orange eggs from high up on tree crowns of forage crops. The caterpillars pupate in August in a manufactured from wood chips and strands thick cocoon on the bark of stems mostly near the bottom. They are so perfectly camouflaged that they are practically invisible. The pupae overwinter before they hatch in the spring.