Spialia sertorius
Red Dice Dickkopffalter ( Spialia Sertorius )
The Red Cube - Dickkopffalter ( Spialia Sertorius ) is a butterfly of the family of the skipper ( Hesperiidae ).
- 7.1 Notes and references
Features
The moths reach a wingspan of 22-24 millimeters. You have dark brown upper wing where many white cubes spots are seen. The outer wing edges are white and dyed black interrupted. Behind running parallel lines of small white spots. The wing undersides are reddish brown, rarely dark brown or greenish and have numerous spots on dice.
The caterpillars are about 20 mm long. They are dark brown to black and have the left and right of the back two inwardly jagged, yellow longitudinal lines. They carry many medium long, white hair.
Occurrence
The Red Cube - Dickkopffalter comes in North Africa, South and Central Europe and the West Asia prior to Tibet and the Amur to an altitude of 1,650 meters. In Europe they are found especially in the south of Central Europe, where they live in warm, dry areas, such as dry grass, gravel pits or quarries but also on forest clearings and in bushes. The species is rare.
Way of life
The moths fly in the day to various flowering plants, but they are also found frequently in puddles where they suck liquid. The males watch from an elevated seat to drive other moths in flight. They then return to the same place.
Flight Times
The animals either fly in one generation from late May to June; one then finds the caterpillars from July and after hibernation until April, or two generations from May to June and from July to August. The caterpillars can be found then from September and after hibernation until April and in June and July.
Food of the caterpillars
The caterpillars feed on monophagous of Small burnet ( Sanguisorba minor).
Development
The females lay their eggs on the buds of forage crops. If this bloom they cover the eggs under the petals. The resulting hatching caterpillars first eat the flowers and leaves until later. They live in a self- spun web of leaves and overwinter as a caterpillar in it. They pupate in the next year, also in their leaf tissue.
Threats and conservation
- Red List BRD: V ( near threatened ).