Wednesday, 30 September 2020
Tuesday, 29 September 2020
29-9-2020 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - STINK BUG (Acrosternum heegeri)
The species Acrosternum heegeri Fieber, 1861 is a well-known member of the Mediterranean fauna in Europe and until recently was not recorded outside its natural range. In recent years, the presence of stable populations of the species in Budapest has been confirmed, and the first findings on the territory of Serbia are from 2013, when several overwintering adults were found under the bark of deciduous trees in Novi Sad.
Since 2017, active individuals have been recorded throughout the season, for now mainly from the area of Vojvodina. This bug is probably conquering new territories by transporting people and goods, but we assume that climate change is also responsible for establishing stable populations in new environments. The paper presents the findings of the species A. heegeri in Serbia, which were taken from the Alciphron database on insects in Serbia. A. heegeri is a polyphagous herbivore and has the status of an economically significant species in the Middle East because it causes damage in pistachio plantations.
As natural expansion of southern species towards the north is getting more and more common in recent years in Europe (e.g., Ott 2001, Károlyi & Rédei 2017, Paulovics & Vas 2021, most probably driven by warming and drying climate, preferred by antlions, it is reasonable to include species in the identification key with considerable probability to appear in Hungary. Species of this category were included by the following biogeographical criteria: the species is either known from at least one country directly neighbouring Hungary or known from the Balkan Peninsula north of Greece (Greece not included).
28-9-2020 GANDIA MARJAL, VALENCIA - VIOLET DROPWING DRAGONFLY (MALE) (Trithemis annulata)
Trithemis annulata, commonly known as the violet dropwing, violet-marked darter, purple-blushed darter, or plum-coloured dropwing, is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. It is found in most of Africa, the Middle East, and southern Europe. These dragonflies are called dropwings because of their habit of immediately lowering their wings after landing on a perch. Males of this species are violet-red with red veins in the wings, while females are yellow and brown. Both sexes have red eyes.
Trithemis annulata is a robust medium-sized species with a wingspan of 60 mm (2.4 in). The mature male has a dark red head and a yellow labium with a brown central spot. The eyes are red with white spots on the rear edge, and the frons is dark metallic purplish-red. The prothorax is violet with slightly darker longitudinal stripes.
The membranous wings have distinctive red veins, the pterostigma is orange-brown, and there is a large orange-brown splash at the base of the hind wings. The abdomen is fairly broad and is pinkish-violet, with purple markings on the top of each segment and blackish markings on the terminal three segments. Females are a similar size to males, but the thorax is brownish, and the abdomen is yellow with dark brown markings. The wings of females lack the red veins of males but have similar orange-brown patches. It is very similar in appearance to the red-veined dropwing (Trithemis arteriosa), but that species has a more slender abdomen and a wedge-shaped black area on either side of the tip of the abdomen.
Monday, 28 September 2020
28-9-2020 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - SMALL PURPLE BARRED MOTH (Phytometra viridaria)
Phytometra viridaria, the small purple-barred, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Carl Alexander Clerck in 1759. It is found in central and southern Europe, Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and further east across the Palearctic to southern Siberia.
The wingspan is 19–20 mm. The length of the forewings is 9–11 mm.
The moth flies from April to August depending on the location.
Forewing olive brownish; the costa at base, and an outer and terminal fascia deep rosy purple; the outer band varying in width; a pale line of ground colour between them; hindwing olive with a median and terminal darker band more or less tinged with purple; in ab. fusca Tutt the purple tints are replaced by dark brown; —ab. aenea Hbn. the ground colour is olive grey or fuscous instead of green; ab. suffusa Tutt is a rare form, blackish fuscous with a still darker terminal border.
Larva green with darker pale-edged dorsal line; the other lines pale, the subspiracular becoming white on anal segments.
The larvae feed on Polygala vulgaris, Polygala serpyllifolia and Pedicularis sylvatica.
Sunday, 27 September 2020
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