A lek is an aggregation of male animals gathered to engage in competitive displays and courtship rituals, known as lekking, to entice visiting females which are surveying prospective partners with which to mate. It can also refer to a space used by displaying males to defend their own share of territory for the breeding season. A lekking species is characterised by male displays, strong female mate choice, and the conferring of indirect benefits to males and reduced costs to females. Although most prevalent among birds such as black grouse, lekking is also found in a wide range of vertebrates including some bony fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and arthropods including crustaceans and insects.
The small heath is a butterfly species belonging to the family Nymphalidae, classified within the subfamily Satyrinae. It is the smallest butterfly in this subfamily. The small heath is diurnal and flies with a noticeable fluttering flight pattern near the ground. It rests with closed wings when not in flight. It is widespread in colonies throughout the grasslands of Eurasia and north-western Africa, preferring drier habitats than other Coenonympha, such as salt marshes, alpine meadows, wetlands, and grasslands near water. However, habitat loss caused by human activities has led to a decline in populations in some locations.
The Hepialidae are a family of insects in the lepidopteran order. Moths of this family are often referred to as swift moths or ghost moths.
The ghost moth or ghost swift is a moth of the family Hepialidae. It is common throughout Europe, except for the far south-east.
The common swift is a moth of the family Hepialidae. It was previously placed in the genus Hepialus. It is a common, often abundant European species. The species was described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
The bordered white or pine looper, is a moth of the family Geometridae. Among these, it belongs to tribe Bupalini of the subfamily Ennominae. B. piniaria is a common species throughout the western Palearctic region, the Near East and North Africa. However, its presence in certain regions – e.g. the northern Balkans – is doubtful.
The common white wave is a moth of the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is found throughout the Palearctic region. Their habitat is deciduous forests and their surroundings.
The Hepialoidea are the superfamily of "ghost moths" and "swift moths".
The shark is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae.
The grey chi is a moth of the family Noctuidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. It is distributed throughout Europe, although it is not present in southern Spain and Greece, as well as northern Fennoscandia. It is also found across the Palearctic including Central Asia, to the Russian Far East but not in Japan.
Stalk-eyed flies are insects of the fly family Diopsidae. The family is distinguished from most other flies by most members of the family possessing "eyestalks": projections from the sides of the head with the eyes at the end. Some fly species from other families such as Drosophilidae, Platystomatidae, Richardiidae, and Tephritidae have similar heads, but the unique character of the Diopsidae is that their antennae are located on the stalk, rather than in the middle of the head as in all other flies. Stalked eyes are present in all members of the subfamily Diopsinae, but are absent in the Centrioncinae, which retain unstalked eyes similar to those of other flies. The stalked eyes are usually sexually dimorphic, with eyestalks present but shorter in females.
Acraea terpsicore, the tawny coster, is a small, 53–64 millimetres (2.1–2.5 in), leathery-winged butterfly common in grassland and scrub habitats. It belongs to the Nymphalidae or brush-footed butterfly family. It has a weak fluttery flight. It is avoided by most insect predators. This species and the yellow coster are the only two Indian representatives of the predominantly African tribe Acraeini. It is found in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Maldives to Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, and recently Australia.
Phymatopus is a genus of moths of the family Hepialidae, which consists of around 700 species and 82 genera. The genus was erected by Hans Daniel Johan Wallengren in 1869. They can be found across Eurasia and North America. Species can be distinguished by the different morphology of male genitalia and different forewing patterns, which vary in stripe colour and size and arrangement of spots. The stripes themselves consist of spots separated by dark veins which are fringed by thin black lines from both inner and outer sides.
Sociality is the degree to which individuals in an animal population tend to associate in social groups (gregariousness) and form cooperative societies.
Colias is a genus of butterflies in the family Pieridae. They are often called clouded yellows in the Palearctic and sulphurs in North America. The closest living relative is the genus Zerene, which is sometimes included in Colias.
The orange swift or orange moth is a moth belonging to the family Hepialidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1761 and was previously placed in the genus Hepialus. It is distributed throughout Europe.
The map-winged swift is a moth belonging to the family Hepialidae and has a patchy distribution throughout Eurasia. The species was first described by Charles De Geer in 1778. It was previously placed in the genus Hepialus and some references still place it there.
Abantiades latipennis, known as the Pindi moth, is a species of moth in the family Hepialidae. It may also be referred to as a swift moth or a ghost moth, as this is a common name associated with Hepialidae. Endemic to Australia and identified in 1932, it is most populous in temperate rainforest where eucalypti are prevalent, as the larvae feed primarily on the roots of these trees. Females lay eggs during flight in a scattering fashion. The larvae live for over eighteen months underground, while adult moths survive for approximately one week, as they have no mouthparts with which to feed. The moths are preyed upon by a number of predators, including bats and owls. Brown in colour overall, males are paler and the identifying silver bars of the male's wings are more prominent than those of the female's, with dark margins. Male adults are generally smaller.
The conifer swift moth is a swift moth considered a forest pest in eastern and central North America, from Canada south to North Carolina. Larvae feed primarily on roots of evergreen trees, and are weakly polyphagous, able to survive on deciduous trees but preferring balsam fir and red spruce. They penetrate bark, but lesions on roots are shallow. These wounds may, however, provide easy entry for pathogenic fungi and nematodes. K. gracilis has been shown to reduce survival on saplings, but adult trees have been found with more than 30 feeding scars on their roots. But trees that are weakened by air pollution or changes in soil chemistry may invite K. gracilis infestation. Adults can be found in woody areas between June and August. They are cryptically colored, but are active for 20–40 minutes each dawn and twilight, and occasionally come to light. In the conifer swift moth, courtship, mating, and egg laying occur during evening hours; only oviposition occurs in the morning. They are Exoporia, and females scatter eggs while in flight. It takes two years for the larvae to mature, so populations tend towards two-year cycles. Females emit pheromones to attract males, from organs on their hind wings.
In the 10th edition of Systema Naturae, Carl Linnaeus classified the arthropods, including insects, arachnids and crustaceans, among his class "Insecta". Butterflies and moths were brought together under the name Lepidoptera. Linnaeus divided the group into three genera – Papilio, Sphinx and Phalaena. The first two, together with the seven subdivisions of the third, are now used as the basis for nine superfamily names: Papilionoidea, Sphingoidea, Bombycoidea, Noctuoidea, Geometroidea, Tortricoidea, Pyraloidea, Tineoidea and Alucitoidea.
