Jordanita graeca
Jordanita graeca is a butterfly of the family of burnet ( Zygaenidae ).
- 4.1 Notes and references
- 4.2 Literature
Features
The moths reach a forewing between 7,5 and 12.5 millimeters in males and from 7.0 to 12.0 mm in females. Head, thorax and femur of the legs shimmering green. The abdomen is dark greenish gray and without shimmer. The forehead ( frons ) is more than twice as wide as the compound eyes. The sensors are almost black and may shimmer bluish green. The probe shaft is thick. Proximal to the combing is long, short distally, the last three segments are almost sägeförmig. The sensors consist of 37 to 40 short segments. The front upper wing surface shimmers green, gold green or bluish green. The hind wings are slightly translucent in the center, the top is blackish gray, the anal fold is thicker and has a characteristic scaly. The underwings are dark gray and dull.
In the male the ventral edge of the Valve is open halfway to the top with a short tooth. The Vinculum has a strongly sclerotized Saccusplatte. The aedeagus has an everted bladder, the ventral area is open to two -thirds with a bundle of slender sharp needles. Dorsally located small area, which is equipped with tiny needles, another distal to the needle bundle. The 8th Abdominalsternit is trapezoidal, distally very narrow and has a slightly lobed rear margin. It extends beyond the posterior margin of the segment addition.
In females, the ostium is wide and elliptical. The ductus bursae is horn- shaped, sclerotized broad and strong at the base. Distal it is less sclerotized and bent. It is translucent, bent and twisted. The corpus bursae is egg-shaped and fitted on the inside with distinctive needles. The last Abdominalsternit is unbeschuppt so that the ostium is visible.
The egg is yellowish green.
The caterpillar is shown in yellow and dark gray lines. The crawler body is provided with little more prickly tubercles, which appear as black dots at low magnification. The warts on the back are yellow, on the side and belly are gray yellow and covered with long white and short brown bristles. The head is black, the Prothorakalsegment is black brown. The Peritrema - an annular sclerite - surrounding the breathing holes - is black brown. The last abdominal segment is marked with three black dots.
The pupa is brown and shiny. The cocoon is white, loosely spun and spindle-shaped.
Similar Species
In Europe Jordanita tenuicornis and Jordanita chloros have a similar size and wing shape. The former type is endemic in southern Italy and in Sicily where J. graeca not occur. In the latter type, thorax and forewing base shimmering blue, the rest of the front upper wing surface is gold green, brown green or yellowish green.
The in Turkey and Iran -based Jordanita anatolica and small Adscita obscura copies J. graeca similar. The former type can be distinguished only genitalmorphologisch by J. graeca, the latter has club-shaped sensor.
Copies of Jordanita syriaca resemble habitual J. graeca. However, the latter type is not found in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Both types can be distinguished genitalmorphologisch.
Subspecies
Despite the considerable geographical variability only two subspecies have been described in the Western Palearctic:
Specimens of the subspecies graeca graeca Jordanita (Jordan, 1907) from Slovakia and Hungary are medium in size and emerald green, those are bigger of the Croatian coast, the males sometimes bluish green shimmer, while the females shimmer evergreen. Greek specimens are large and dark green gold. The largest specimens are found in the Peloponnese region and in the Taygetos Mountains.
The specimens of the subspecies Jordanita graeca sultana ( Alberti, 1937) are smaller and more translucent than the hind wings specimens from Greece and southwestern Turkey.
Dissemination
The distribution area of Jordanita graeca ranges from the south of Slovakia over Hungary, the Balkan peninsula, Rhodes and Cyprus to the south of Russia and the Ukraine, as well as Transcaucasia, Turkey, Iran and northern Iraq. The subspecies graeca graeca Jordanita is disseminated from southern Slovakia to Hungary and Ukraine to the south west of Turkey. Jordanita graeca sultana occurs in the Crimea, in the center and south of Turkey and Armenia. Be colonized dry grasslands in the plane and rocky slopes.
Biology
The females lay eggs singly in the fluff undersides of the leaves, so that they - are barely visible - depending on plant species. After 10 to 15 eggs, the females interrupt oviposition to suck on the flowers of Centaurea species. The caterpillars of the subspecies J. g graeca live at the Malta Knapweed (Centaurea melitensis ) and Cirsium creticum. The subspecies of J. g sultana at the solstice Knapweed (Centaurea solstitialis ), to split up knapweed (Centaurea Salonitana ) annuum on Carduus arabicus, Carduus uncinate, Jurinea sordida and Xeranthemum. The caterpillars pupate in a white, loosely woven cocoon in the soil under the plant feed. The moths fly from May (Crimea and south-west Turkey ) and July (middle and eastern Turkey ).