| The lychnis | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Superfamily: | Noctuoidea |
| Family: | Noctuidae |
| Genus: | Hadena |
| Species: | H. bicruris |
| Binomial name | |
| Hadena bicruris Hufnagel, 1766 | |
The lychnis (Hadena bicruris) is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in northern and western Europe and Turkey. It has an Atlantic-Mediterranean distribution. In the East Palearctic it is replaced by Hadena capsincola .
This species has dark brown forewings marked with two prominent white-bordered stigmata and a white subterminal line. The hindwings are buffish, darkening to brown towards the margin but with a prominent white fringe. Seitz states - Distinguished from rivularis F. by the absence of the violet sheen; the markings white instead of yellow; the upper stigmata not conjoined; a conspicuous black blotch above inner margin near base; hindwing fuscous. Larva dull brown, with darker dorsal line and oblique subdorsal streaks. [2]
One or two broods are produced each year and adults can be seen between May and September. Flight is from June to July. [3]
The larva feeds on various Caryophyllaceae such as Dianthus , Lychnis , Saponaria and Silene . [4] The species overwinters as a pupa.
H. bicruis is a nocturnal pollinator meaning that it frequents flowers late in the day or at night. [5] [6] Flowers pollinated by moths are often pale in colour, allowing for moonlight to be reflected for easy detection by pollinators. [5] H. bicruris has a specialised nursery pollination system with Silene latifolia . Nursery pollination systems are those where female pollinators lay their eggs on flowers, and as offspring develop, they consume either the plant or the developing ovules or seeds. [7] [8] In this type of pollination system the host plant and pollinator, in this case the moth, are dependent on each other. This relationship can also be considered parasitic as offspring consume seeds, which impacts seed dispersal. It is important to note that this system is not as strong as other nursery pollination systems, and that co-pollinators can alter the interaction between H. bicruris and S. latifolia. [6]
H. bicruris lack the specialised pollination structures that many other pollinators have. [9] [10] [6] Instead, pollen granules catch on their bodies and legs when they come into contact with a flower to feed on nectar. This is otherwise known as passive pollination, where organisms have no specialised collecting or depositing behaviour or structures, but still contribute to pollination. [11] When the moth then visits the next flower, pollen granules may be transferred from the body to the stigma of the receiving plant. Despite the lack of specialised pollination structures, H. bicruris are considered to be the most efficient pollinator of S. latifolia, where both sexes contribute equally to pollination. Although there is a cost to plants by seed predation, this will potentially occur following visitation by a female. Compared to when a male visits the plant, he will only consume the nectar and not have any impact to any part of the plants structure. H. bicruris visit both male and female S. latifolia flowers, and show no preference for flower sex. [12] The efficiency of a pollinator is determined by the number of fruit that are produced following a pollination event. [13] Studies have found in S. latifolia that 80% of visits by H. bicruris resulted in fruit production, with 45% of ovules being fertilised after a singular pollination visit. [12]
Silene is a genus of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae. Containing nearly 900 species, it is the largest genus in the family. Common names include campion and catchfly. Many Silene species are widely distributed, particularly in the northern hemisphere.
Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example beetles; birds, butterflies, and bats; water; wind; and even plants themselves. Pollinating animals travel from plant to plant carrying pollen on their bodies in a vital interaction that allows the transfer of genetic material critical to the reproductive system of most flowering plants. When self-pollination occurs within a closed flower. Pollination often occurs within a species. When pollination occurs between species, it can produce hybrid offspring in nature and in plant breeding work.
The Noctuidae, commonly known as owlet moths, cutworms or armyworms, are a family of moths. They are considered the most controversial family in the superfamily Noctuoidea because many of the clades are constantly changing, along with the other families of the Noctuoidea. It was considered the largest family in Lepidoptera for a long time, but after regrouping Lymantriinae, Catocalinae and Calpinae within the family Erebidae, the latter holds this title now. Currently, Noctuidae is the second largest family in Noctuoidea, with about 1,089 genera and 11,772 species. This classification is still contingent, as more changes continue to appear between Noctuidae and Erebidae.
Entomophily or insect pollination is a form of pollination whereby pollen of plants, especially but not only of flowering plants, is distributed by insects. Flowers pollinated by insects typically advertise themselves with bright colours, sometimes with conspicuous patterns leading to rewards of pollen and nectar; they may also have an attractive scent which in some cases mimics insect pheromones. Insect pollinators such as bees have adaptations for their role, such as lapping or sucking mouthparts to take in nectar, and in some species also pollen baskets on their hind legs. This required the coevolution of insects and flowering plants in the development of pollination behaviour by the insects and pollination mechanisms by the flowers, benefiting both groups. Both the size and the density of a population are known to affect pollination and subsequent reproductive performance.
Zoophily, or zoogamy, is a form of pollination whereby pollen is transferred by animals, usually by invertebrates but in some cases vertebrates, particularly birds and bats, but also by other animals. Zoophilous species frequently have evolved mechanisms to make themselves more appealing to the particular type of pollinator, e.g. brightly colored or scented flowers, nectar, and appealing shapes and patterns. These plant-animal relationships are often mutually beneficial because of the food source provided in exchange for pollination.
Silene flos-cuculi, commonly called ragged-robin, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. It is native to Eurasia and has been introduced to North America.
Silene latifolia, commonly known as white campion, is a dioecious flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae, native to most of Europe, Western Asia and northern Africa. It is a herbaceous annual, occasionally biennial or a short-lived perennial plant, growing to between 40–80 centimetres tall. It is also known in the US as bladder campion but should not be confused with Silene vulgaris, which is more generally called bladder campion.
Silene dioica, known as red campion and red catchfly, is a herbaceous flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae, native to Europe and introduced to the Americas.
In the flowering plants, an ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower or gynoecium. Specifically, it is the part of the pistil which holds the ovule(s) and is located above or below or at the point of connection with the base of the petals and sepals. The pistil may be made up of one carpel or of several fused carpels, and therefore the ovary can contain part of one carpel or parts of several fused carpels. Above the ovary is the style and the stigma, which is where the pollen lands and germinates to grow down through the style to the ovary, and, for each individual pollen grain, to fertilize one individual ovule. Some wind pollinated flowers have much reduced and modified ovaries.
A flower, also known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants. Flowers consist of a combination of vegetative organs – sepals that enclose and protect the developing flower, petals that attract pollinators, and reproductive organs that produce gametophytes, which in flowering plants produce gametes. The male gametophytes, which produce sperm, are enclosed within pollen grains produced in the anthers. The female gametophytes are contained within the ovules produced in the carpels.
Silene nutans is a flowering plant in the genus Silene, most commonly known as Nottingham catchfly.
Pollination syndromes are suites of flower traits that have evolved in response to natural selection imposed by different pollen vectors, which can be abiotic or biotic, such as birds, bees, flies, and so forth through a process called pollinator-mediated selection. These traits include flower shape, size, colour, odour, reward type and amount, nectar composition, timing of flowering, etc. For example, tubular red flowers with copious nectar often attract birds; foul smelling flowers attract carrion flies or beetles, etc.
Sideridis rivularis, the campion, is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in from the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula, through the whole of Europe. To the east, it is found in Central Asia and Siberia, up to Manchuria. To the south, it is found in the Mediterranean Sea region and parts of Asia Minor. In the Alps, it is found at up to 1,600 metres above sea level.
Upiga is a monotypic moth genus described by Hahn William Capps in 1964. The genus is placed in the family Crambidae, but has also been placed in Pyralidae. It contains only one species, Upiga virescens, the senita moth, described by George Duryea Hulst in 1900 and found in the Sonoran Desert of North America.
Hadena is a genus of moths of the family Noctuidae erected by Franz von Paula Schrank in 1802. About fifteen species are native to North America, while over one-hundred are distributed in the Palearctic realm.
Hadena magnolii is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in Morocco, Algeria, south-eastern Europe, Turkey, Israel and Lebanon, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kirghizia.
Hadena perplexa, the tawny shears or pod lover, is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Europe, Turkey, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iran, Iraq, northern Asia, Central Asia, northern India and western China.
Hadena silenes is a species of moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in Europe, Turkey, Israel, Iran and Turkmenistan.
Silene noctiflora is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae known by the common names night-flowering catchfly, nightflowering silene and clammy cockle. It is native to Eurasia, but it is known on other continents as an introduced species and sometimes a weed. In North America, it is a common weed of grain crops in the Canadian prairie provinces and in much of the United States. It grows in fields and in other disturbed habitat.
Viscaria vulgaris, the sticky catchfly or clammy campion, is a flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae.
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