Zygaena fausta

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Zygaena fausta
(MHNT) Zygaena fausta fausta - Amiel Tarn France - male.jpg
Male
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Zygaenidae
Genus: Zygaena
Species:
Z. fausta
Binomial name
Zygaena fausta
(Linnaeus, 1767)
Synonyms
  • Sphinx faustaLinnaeus, 1767
  • Zygaena faustinaOchsenheimer, 1908
  • Zygaena baeticaRamburs, 1839
  • Zygaena faustulaRambur, 1866
  • Zygaena mauritanicaMabille, 1885
  • Anthocera mabilleiKirby, 1892
  • Zyganea fausta v. murciensisReiss, 1922
  • Zygaena gibraltaricaTremewan, 1961
  • Zygaena almericaBurgeff, 1963
  • Zygaena aitanaeBurgeff & Klaue, 1968
  • Zygaena resenderBurgeff, 1969
Zygaena fausta Zygaena October 2008-1.jpg
Zygaena fausta
Zygaena fausta Zygaena fausta1.jpg
Zygaena fausta
Mating pair of Zygaena fausta showing the tail-to-tail position and sexual dimorphism Mating Pair of Zygaena fausta Burnet moths.jpg
Mating pair of Zygaena fausta showing the tail-to-tail position and sexual dimorphism
Zygaena fausta taking off, showing the bright red abdomen and eye spots on the thorax Zygaena fausta Burnet moth flapping wings after rain.jpg
Zygaena fausta taking off, showing the bright red abdomen and eye spots on the thorax

Zygaena fausta is a member of the family Zygaenidae, the day-flying burnet moths. Its bright aposematic colours of red, white and black on the wings indicate to possible predators such as birds that it is foul tasting or poisonous. In flight, the bright red abdomen is revealed, contrasting with the white legs and black head and antennae; the thorax is black and white with an eye spot on each side (see image). There appears to be a considerable variation in pattern among specimens from different parts of Europe.

Contents

The southwest of Europe is home to Zygaena fausta. The moth can be found from Spain and Southern Portugal to Western Austria and Southern Germany, northeast to Thuringia, and southeast to North-western Italy. [1]

It is rare or absent from Britain, the Netherlands and Belgium, where related species include the similarly aposematic five-spot burnet and the six-spot burnet. [2]

The caterpillar (larva) is dark grey with a black line above a line of white interrupted by yellow bands. The caterpillar's food plants are vetches of the genus Coronilla . [3]

The adults often visit a wide range of flowers including knapweed and eryngo. Typical habitat is dry chalk grassland. Adults fly throughout the summer from April or May until October. The sexes are similar but not identical (see image); mating takes place by day on isolated plants.

Subspecies

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zygaenidae</span> Family of moths

The Zygaenidae moths are a family of Lepidoptera. The majority of zygaenids are tropical, but they are nevertheless quite well represented in temperate regions. Some of the 1000 or so species are commonly known as burnet or forester moths, often qualified by the number of spots, although other families also have 'foresters'. They are also sometimes called smoky moths.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Six-spot burnet</span> Species of moth

The six-spot burnet is a day-flying moth of the family Zygaenidae.

<i>Zygaena transalpina</i> Species of moth

Zygaena transalpina is a moth of the family Zygaenidae.

<i>Zygaena</i> Genus of moths

Zygaena is a genus of moths in the family Zygaenidae. These brightly coloured, day-flying moths are native to the West Palearctic.

<i>Zygaena carniolica</i> Species of moth

Zygaena carniolica, sometimes described as the crepuscular burnet or eastern burnet, is a member of the family Zygaenidae.

<i>Zygaena ephialtes</i> Species of moth

Zygaena ephialtes is day-flying species of burnet moth found in Europe. It is typically found in xeric habitats, and populations have recently decreased. It also exhibits Müllerian mimicry with other species, like Amata phegea.

<i>Zygaena loti</i> Species of moth

Zygaena loti, the slender Scotch burnet, is a moth of the family Zygaenidae. It is a diurnal moth characterized by a black body, light colored legs, and red spots on its wings. The caterpillars are a yellow-green color and usually molt out of dormancy in late February to early March. The larvae feed on plants from the family Fabaceae until they enter their pupal stage and mature into adults in May to early June. For mating, Zygaenidae exhibit a dual-partner finding strategy, where females use pheromones while assuming a calling position, and males exhibit a patrolling behavior where they utilize both vision and the olfactory receptors in their antennae to locate a potential mate. Although regionally endangered as their population is declining, Z. loti is found all across Europe, inhabiting areas rich in their desired food plants: lime-rich, and characterized by a hot and dry climate. The decreases in their population are likely due to factors such as habitat loss and fragmentation brought on by commercial agriculture and urbanization, as well as global climate change. There are few conservation programs currently focusing on Zygaena loti.

<i>Zygaena viciae</i> Species of moth

Zygaena viciae, the New Forest burnet moth, is a member of the Zygaenidae family, found in the northern hemisphere. Since 1927 it has been extinct in the New Forest, England, after which it is named. It is also known in Europe as the small five-spotted ram.

<i>Zygaena exulans</i> Species of moth

Zygaena exulans, the mountain burnet or Scotch burnet, is a moth of the family Zygaenidae.

<i>Zygaena lonicerae</i> Species of moth

Zygaena lonicerae, the narrow-bordered five-spot burnet, is a moth of the family Zygaenidae. The species was first described by Theodor Gottlieb von Scheven in 1777.

<i>Zygaena purpuralis</i> Species of moth

Zygaena purpuralis, the transparent burnet, is a moth of the family Zygaenidae.

<i>Zygaena occitanica</i> Species of moth

Zygaena occitanica, the Provence burnet, is a moth of the Zygaenidae family. It is found from the Algarve and southern Spain up to the eastern parts of the Cantabrian Mountains then to southern Russia and the Caucasus and east to the western fringe of Central Asia.

<i>Zygaena osterodensis</i> Species of moth

Zygaena osterodensis is a moth of the family Zygaenidae.

<i>Zygaena sarpedon</i> Species of moth

Zygaena sarpedon is a moth of the Zygaenidae family. It is found in France, Italy and on the Iberian Peninsula.

<i>Zygaena hilaris</i> Species of moth

Zygaena hilaris is a species of moth in the family Zygaenidae.

<i>Zygaena cynarae</i> Species of moth

Zygaena cynarae is a species of moth in the Zygaenidae family. It is found from France east to Russia.

<i>Zygaena punctum</i> Species of moth

Zygaena punctum is a species of moth in the family Zygaenidae. It is found in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia, Italy, the Balkan Peninsula, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey.

<i>Zygaena angelicae</i> Species of moth

Zygaena angelicae is a species of moth in the Zygaenidae family. It is found in Central Europe, from Greece to southern Germany and Thuringia. Z.angelicae has blue-black or green-black forewings, whose inner angles are strongly rounded off. On the forewings there are five or six red spots, two of which are always close together. In the five-spotted individuals, the spots on the underside of the wings are connected by a red stripe, in the six-spotted ones this is a large patch. The black margin of the red hind wings is wide. The antennal club is white at the tip less so than in Zygaena transalpina and the white may be completely absent. The wingspan is 30–33 mm.

<i>Zygaena lavandulae</i> Species of moth

Zygaena lavandulae is a species of moth in the family Zygaenidae.

<i>Zygaena rhadamanthus</i> Species of moth

Zygaena rhadamanthus is a species of moth in the Zygaenidae family. It is found in France, Spain, Portugal and Italy.

References

  1. "European Lepidoptera and their ecology: Zygaena fausta". www.pyrgus.de. Retrieved 2021-12-26.
  2. SoortenBank.nl, ETI BioInformatics, http://www.soortenbank.nl/soorten.php?soortengroep=insecten&id=1062
  3. Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa, by Paolo Mazzei, Daniel Morel, Raniero Panfili, Ilaria Pimpinelli, Diego Reggianti. http://www.leps.it/indexjs.htm?SpeciesPages/ZygaeLaeta.htm