Safflower Skipper
Heathland Cube Dickkopffalter ( Pyrgus Carthami )
The heathland Cube Dickkopffalter ( Pyrgus Carthami, syn. Pyrgus fritillarius ), also heathland Cube stubborn or heathland puzzle butterfly is a butterfly of the family of Skipper ( Hesperiidae ).
Features
The length of the forewings is 16.5 to 18 millimeters. The top of the front wings is dark brown. The base color ranges from orange to dark brown. The top of the wings are decorated with bright, mostly white, elongated stains. They are very clearly developed on the fore wing, indicated rather weak on the hind wing. The Submarginalflecken missing or only weakly indicated. Postdiskalen the spots in cell 4 and 5, in the binding agent are shifted slightly outward. On the wing underside the white outer edge is about 1 mm wide ( without fringe ). The brown base color with little or does not reach the wing margin.
The roundish eggs are slightly flattened top and bottom. They are light yellowish. The surface is with strong, emanating from the micropyle, mostly straight or occasionally slightly curved longitudinal ribs covered. On the side, shorter longitudinal ribs can switch between. They are usually smaller than the eggs of other species of the genus Pyrgus, although Pyrgus Carthami is the largest occurring in Europe Pyrgus type.
The color of the caterpillar is somewhat variable depending on the region. In Central Europe the Eiraupe is initially green, later gray or gray-brown with a black head. Striking small the fecal pellets (usually only half as large as the droppings of other Pyrgus species).
The doll is usually frosted dense bluish. The basic color is light brown to yellow-brown. The dolls are out of a black line drawn only weakly on the back.
Geographic occurrence and habitat
The species is widespread in South and Central Europe and Eastern Europe. The northern border is formed by deposits in Lithuania. You lack in the British Isles and Western European coastal regions and in most regions of Italy ( except the north). In the east, the range extends over southern Russia, Turkey, the southern Urals to Turkmenistan and Iran. Pyrgus Carthami occurs on heathland and calcareous grasslands. The caterpillars need Potentilla little cushion on soft ground. It rises in the Alps and in southern France up to about 1600 m.
Way of life
It makes one generation per year, the butterflies fly in Central Europe from mid-May to mid-July. The eggs are laid individually at the bottom of the crawler food plants. The caterpillar feeds on relatively small, drought quite resistant cinquefoils ( Potentilla ), such as sand cinquefoil ( Potentilla arenaria ) and Ruddy cinquefoil ( Potentilla heptaphylla ), as well as particularly the ordinary Spring cinquefoil ( Potentilla tabernaemontani ) and star -haired Spring cinquefoil ( Potentilla pusilla ). In the literature Potentilla cinerea, Potentilla heterophylla, Shaggy cinquefoil ( Potentilla hirta ) and spring cinquefoil ( Potentilla neumanniana ) are named as caterpillars food plants. In summer the caterpillar lays regionally something different, a dry break, which can take in the Mediterranean region for several months. The development continues only after the first autumn rains. Hibernation takes place in the penultimate larval instar. In breeding five molts were detected. Occasionally also occur late flying moths overwinter their offspring accordingly at an earlier stage.
System
The species is in the literature often as Pyrgus fritillarius ( Poda, 1761 ) refers to a nomen dubium However, this name, it is applied in the past five or six different ways. To solve this nomenclatural problem, certain de Jong ( 1987) a Neotyp. This is one of Pyrgus malvae, Pyrgus fritillarius ( Poda, 1761 ) is thus malvae to a younger, subjective synonym of Pyrgus (Linnaeus, 1758). The subdivision of the species into subspecies is also controversial. In the past two subspecies were distinguished in Germany, the Nominatunterart in southern Germany and the ssp. septentrionalis Alberti in Northern Germany. Ernst Brockmann pulls the specimens from Franconia and Thuringia Nominatunterart and the specimens from West Germany to a ssp. nevadensis Oberthuer, 1910, which is by Tolman & Lewington (1998) referred to merely as formatted. The " format " or the subspecies nevadensis is primarily present on the Iberian Peninsula.
- Pyrgus carhami Carthami, the nominate in central and northern Germany
- Pyrgus Carthami nevadensis ( Oberthuer, 1910), West Germany, France, Iberian Peninsula. In western Germany, transitional forms are found to Nominatunterart. This subspecies is characterized by a pale yellow underside. The spots of the fore wings are slightly larger, the spots of the hind wings a little stronger than the Nominatunterart.
- Pyrgus Carthami moeschleri ( Herrich -Schäffer, 1854). Any dissemination of this subspecies there are different opinions. In general, the South East European and Eastern European occurrence, transuralischen populations of the subspecies moeschleri be attributed. In Hungary, there should be transitional forms to Nominatunterart. The subspecies is slightly larger.
To date there are no reliable data to which subspecies include the populations in Turkey.