Euchalcia consona
Monkshood - Metalleule ( Euchalcia consona )
The Monkshood - Metalleule ( Euchalcia consona ) is a butterfly (moth ) from the family of cutworms ( Noctuidae ).
Features
The Monkshood - Metalleule is a medium sized butterfly with a wingspan from 30 to 36 millimeters from the subfamily of Gold Owl ( Plusiinae ). The front wings are colored in different shades of gray and brown. The midfield is obscured. Near the outer edge are large, brown, angular spots. The ring stain and as an extension subsequent PTO blemishes are silver border. The gray-brown hind wings are obscured at outseam. At the head of the butterfly is a dense tuft of hair. The body is hairy furry and has other smaller tufts of hair.
The caterpillars are bluish- green and have a poorly developed, bright line of the back and just such side stripes. The pupa is blackish greenish in color, on the back and has an elongated proboscis sheath.
Synonyms
- Plusia consona
- Phytometra consona
Distribution and occurrence
The Monkshood - Metalleule comes mainly in Eastern European regions before, from Austria to Hungary, Siberia to the Urals. The species prefers warm, dry places, such as steppes, warm slopes and Ödländereien.
Life and development
The moths fly in two generations, in May and June and in August and September. The caterpillars live from May to early July and from late July to mid-August. As forage plants are the leaves of Monkshood ( Nonea pulla ), wolf eye ( Anchusa arvensis) and lung herb species ( Pulmonaria ) to pupate in a dense white cocoon. The species overwinters as an egg.
Endangering
The species occurs in Germany is very rare and is on the Red List of endangered species under Category 1 ( threatened with extinction ) out.