Saturday, 3 October 2020
Thursday, 1 October 2020
1-10-2020 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - YELLOW BELLE MOTH (Aspitates ochrearia)
Aspitates ochrearia, the yellow belle, is a moth in the family Geometridae. The species was first described by Pietro Rossi in 1794. It is found in western and southern Europe, as well as North America.
The wingspan is 25–34 mm. Adults are on wing from April to June and again from August to September in two generations per year.
The larvae feed on various herbaceous plants, including Daucus carota and Plantago coronopus. The larvae can be found from April to June. The species overwinters in the larval stage. Pupation takes place in spring.
30-9-2020 EL HONDO, MURCIA - LAMENTING GRASSHOPPER (Eyprepocnemis plorans)
Eyprepocnemis plorans, the lamenting grasshopper, is a species of insect in the family Acrididae. It is the type species of the genus Eyprepocnemis, and is found in Africa, parts of the Middle East, and southern Europe. It typically inhabits wetlands and other moist habitats.
This is a medium-sized grasshopper, with females growing to a length of about 4.5 cm (1.8 in), while males are slightly smaller. The general colour is greyish-brown. The head and prothorax have a central dark band edged with paler stripes. The eye has a longitudinal dark streak, a characteristic shared by Anacridium aegyptium, Heteracris annulosa and Heteracris adspersa. The femurs of the hind legs have greenish, blue and yellow striations, and the hind tibia have reddish or bluish iridescence, and black and white spines.
Eyprepocnemis plorans is native to much of Africa, parts of the Middle East such as Iran, and southern Europe, where it is present in southern Greece, southern Italy, Sicily, Sardinia and southern Spain. It seems to be expanding its range northwards in Italy, possibly as a result of putative climate change. It usually occurs in wetlands, reed beds, freshwater and salt marshes, riverside vegetation, coastal vegetation and man-made habitats. It appreciates vertical-growing stems such as reeds, and habitats with tall forbs mixed with lower-growing plants.
Grasshoppers are in general polyphagous, eating vegetation from many different plant sources. Eyprepocnemis plorans feeds mainly on grasses and sedges. The female deposits an egg pod in the ground and the eggs hatch in the spring. The nymphs undergo five moults, becoming more similar to the adult insect at each developmental stage; they do not undergo metamorphosis and mature in the summer. In parts of the range many adults survive the winter. This species is rather wary and is a good flier.
The karyotype of this grasshopper includes a number of B chromosomes (extra chromosomes) and exhibits a very widespread polymorphism; populations in Spain show about 40 different variations in B chromosomes, resulting in an increase in the frequency of chiasmas.
During spermatogenesis in E. plorans, the autosomal chromosomes achieve complete synapsis, but the single X sex chromosome always remains unsynapsed. The autosomal chromosomes are transcriptionally active during the leptotene to zygotene stages of meiosis, whereas the X chromosome is inactive throughout meiosis likely because of specific epigenetic modifications.
Wednesday, 30 September 2020
Tuesday, 29 September 2020
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.
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