''Jordanita notata'' 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 ...

of the family Zygaenidae. It is found from the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

and central Europe, through the northern part of the Mediterranean region (including

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

and

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

) to 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

Transcaucasia The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...

. The length of the forewings is 11–16 mm for males and 7.5–10.5 mm for females. It is an extremely variable species. Individuals from southern Spain are large and bright green or golden green, while specimens from southern France are small. Individuals from the Turkish population are very large and dark in color and specimens from Crete are very small, green and transparent. Adults are on wing from the end of March in Spain and to the beginning of July in Central Europe. They feed on the flower nectar of various flowers, including '' Centaurea'', ''

Carduus ''Carduus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, and the tribe Cardueae, one of two genera considered to be true thistles, the other being ''Cirsium''. Plants of the genus are known commonly as plumeless thistles.

'' and '' Knautia'' species. The larvae feed on ''

Centaurea jacea ''Centaurea jacea'', brown knapweed or brownray knapweed, is a species of herbaceous perennial plants in the genus ''Centaurea'' native to dry meadows and open woodland throughout Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally conside ...

'', ''

Centaurea scabiosa ''Centaurea scabiosa'', or greater knapweed, is a perennial plant of the genus ''Centaurea''. It is native to Europe and bears purple flower heads. Greater knapweed is found growing in dry grasslands, hedgerows and cliffs on lime-rich soil. Upri ...

'' and '' Cirsium'' species. They

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

the leaves of their host plant. Young larva make a number of tiny corridor mines. Older larvae make a number of very sloppy fleck mines by working the front half their body under the lower epidermis of the leaf and then devouring most leaf tissue. The opening of the mine is a slit at the side. The larvae are very variable in color, but generally have a blackish-brown head and a greyish-brown body with a yellow-grey underside.

References

*C. M. Naumann, W. G. Tremewan: ''The Western Palaearctic Zygaenidae''. Apollo Books, Stenstrup 1999,

External links

Lepiforum e. V.
Procridinae Moths of Europe Moths of Asia Moths described in 1847 {{Zygaenidae-stub