''Zygaena minos'' is a member of the family

Zygaenidae 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, ofte ...

. It is found in most of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, except

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

, the

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: B ...

, 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

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

.Fauna Europaea
/ref> It is very similar to ''

Zygaena purpuralis ''Zygaena purpuralis'', the transparent burnet, is a moth of the family Zygaenidae. Description ''Zygaena purpuralis'' is a medium-sized moth with a wingspan reaching . Usually the forewings show three bright red longitudinal streaks quite va ...

'' with which it forms a

species complex In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

and only separable by genital preparation or by the larval foodplant. The

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 ...

is 33–37 mm. It flies in June and July.The white-gray larvae feed on ''

Pimpinella saxifraga ''Pimpinella saxifraga'', known as burnet-saxifrage, solidstem burnet saxifrage, lesser burnet is a plant species in the family Apiaceae, a native of the British Isles and temperate Europe and Western Asia. It is neither a burnet, which its l ...

'' and ''

Eryngium ''Eryngium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae. There are about 250 species.Wang, P., et al. (2012)Phytochemical constituents and pharmacological activities of ''Eryngium'' L. (Apiaceae). ''Pharmaceutical Crops'' 3 99-120. The ...

'' species. The species is only found in a few places in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, and the population there is slowly declining.

Subspecies

*''Zygaena minos minos'' *''Zygaena minos normanna'' Verity 1922 *''Zygaena minos peloponnesica'' Holik, 1937 *''Zygaena minos sareptensis'' Rebel, 1901 *''Zygaena minos viridescens'' Burgeff, 1926

References

Bibliography

*Top-Jensen, M. & M. Fibiger. 2009. ''Danmarks sommerfugle''. Bugbook Publisher. . Zygaena Moths of Europe Moths described in 1775 {{Zygaenidae-stub