The nine-spotted moth or yellow belted burnet (''Amata phegea'', formerly ''Syntomis phegea'') is a

moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

in the family

Erebidae The Erebidae are a family of moths in the superfamily Noctuoidea. The family is among the largest families of moths by species count and contains a wide variety of well-known macromoth groups. The family includes the underwings ('' Catocala'') ...

("tiger moths"). The species was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

in his 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''.

Distribution and habitat

The nine-spotted moth is chiefly found in southern Europe but also seen up to northern Germany, and in the east to

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

and the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...

, and there are some populations in the south-eastern Dutch nature reserves of Leudal and Meinweg. It does not breed in the United Kingdom, but it is a very rare immigrant. The species prefers drier areas, open ranges with shrubs and trees as well as open forests and warm, sunny slopes.''Natura Bohemica''
/ref>

Description

''Amata phegea'' reaches a

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

of . Males are smaller than females and have thicker antennae. Wings are blueish black or greenish black with white spots and metallic sheen. The number and the size of spots are quite variable. Usually there are six white spots on the forewings and two or three spots on the hindwings. The body is quite long, with a yellow spot on the second segment of the abdomen. A further feature is the prominent yellow ring at the sixth segment of the abdomen. The black thread-like antennae have white tips. The caterpillars can reach a length of about . They are gray black with thick dark brown, fluffy hairs that grow from small growths. The head is reddish brown. Similar-looking moths include '' Amata ragazzii'' (Turati, 1917) and ''

Zygaena ephialtes ''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''. Descri ...

'' (Linnaeus, 1758). ''Z. ephialtes'' is in the family Zygaenidae and is unpalatable to birds. The nine-spotted moth imitates its appearance ( Müllerian mimicry). Both moths are an example of

aposematism Aposematism is the advertising by an animal to potential predators that it is not worth attacking or eating. This unprofitability may consist of any defences which make the prey difficult to kill and eat, such as toxicity, venom, foul taste or ...

Biology

This species has one generation per year ( univoltine). Females lay eggs on a variety of herbs. The larvae hatch in early August and are polyphagous, feeding on a range of herbaceous plants ('' Plantago'', ''

Rumex The docks and sorrels, genus ''Rumex'', are a genus of about 200 species of annual, biennial, and perennial herbs in the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae. Members of this genus are very common perennial herbs with a native almost worldwide distribu ...

'', '' Galium'', '' Gramineae'', '' Taraxacum'' and other low plants).Mazzei, Paolo; Morel, Daniel & Panfili, Raniero
''Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa''
/ref> The caterpillar hibernates in a silken nest and pupates in May in cocoons on the ground. Adults of this diurnal moth fly on warm sunny days from late May to August, depending on location.

Bibliography

* Collectif d'entomologistes amateurs, ''Guide des papillons nocturnes de France'', Paris, Delachaux et Niestlé, 2007, 288 p. (), p. 97, n. 849 * Kükenthal, W. (Ed.), ''Handbuch der Zoologie'' andbook of Zoology Band 4: Arthropoda - 2. Hälfte: Insecta - Lepidoptera, moths and butterflies, in Kristensen, N. P., Handbuch der Zoologie, Fischer, M. (Scientific Editor), Teilband/Part 35: Vol. 1: Evolution, systematics, and biogeography, Berlin, New York, Walter de Gruyter, 1999, pp. x + 491, , OCLC 174380917. * P.C. Rougeot, P. Viette, ''Guide des papillons nocturnes d'Europe et d'Afrique du Nord'', Delachaux et Niestlé, Lausanne 1978. * Scoble, M. J., ''The Lepidoptera: Form, Function and Diversity'', 2nd ed., London, Oxford University Press & Natural History Museum, 2011

992 Year 992 ( CMXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Worldwide * Winter – A superflare from the sun causes an Aurora Borealis, with visibility as fa ...

pp. xi, 404, , LCCN 92004297, OCLC 25282932. * Stehr, F. W. (Ed.), ''Immature Insects'', Dubuque, Iowa, Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co., 1991, pp. ix, 754, , LCCN 85081922, OCLC 13784377.

References

External links

''Larvae of North-European Lepidoptera''

''Butterflies & Moths of Switzerland''

''Lepiforum e.V.''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1755105 Amata (moth) Moths described in 1758 Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus