Reply to DW: Caterpillar is the Elephant-Hawkmoth

I've had a question from D.W. about the caterpillar from the post about Brande and Gudenaa.:

It is an Elephant Hawkmoth/ Dueurtsværmer) and it is common in Denmark. Latin: Deilephila elpenor. I haven't got a photo of the adult moth, but you can find some good shots on Google. Some of the photos of the caterpillar are funny  - where it's lifting its little head.

"I am dangerous", it says.

Supposedly its look scares away birds and other animals because the enemies consider it's a snake. Its food are flowers from especially the willowherb family - in this case it was the Great Willowherb, but it's also fond of the fuchsia in the garden. If it is disturbed it takes on a threatening position and looks like a little cobra ready to strike.






 
Please try to watch this lille video of the Elephant-Hawkmoth , it's from 1999, but it's good.


Elephant-Hawkmoth eating fuchsias


 Although the caterpillar looks like a snake it turns into a pretty butterfly with pink colours (see Google). The species is common in DK. The caterpillar is found in water holes or in ditches along forest roads with willowherb. The adult butterfly is out flying in the summer period, but mostly at night.

DW:
Kind regards and thank you for your interest
Grethe 


photo Brande 2012: grethe bachmann

Orange Tip/ Aurora Butterfly

Orange tip/ Aurora
Anthocharis cardamines

The Orange Tip flies from late April until late June and overwinters as a cocoon in low vegetation. It is named Orange tip because of the male's bright orange tips to his forewings. The males are a common sight in spring flying along hedgerows and damp meadows in search of the more reclusive female which lacks the orange and is often mistaken for one of the other 'White' butterflies. The female is - while resting - recognized by its large round spot on the forewing and the grey-black pointed forewing. Both sexes have upon the underside a moss-green marbling, which actually consists of a mix of yellow, black, grey and white scales. The male is able to hide his orange tips by tucking the forewings behind the hindwings at rest.

The wing span is 37-47 mm. The middle spot of the forewing varies in size and the border between the male's orange and white wing colour can differ, relative to the middle spot.

The flight is lively and jumpy. The females often rest for a long time in the vegetation, while the males patrol the terrain and only sit briefly on the plants or suck nectare.

The Orange tip is found across Europe, and eastwards into temperate Asia as far as Japan. The past 30 years has seen a rapid increase in the range of the Orange Tip in the UK, particularly in Scotland and Ireland, probably in response to climate change.

Orange tip, underside.

The habitats are flowery and often moist places with crucifers, like damp pastures and meadows. The Orange tip also lives in more dry pastures, along forest roads and glades and in residential districts - and along riverbanks, ditches, fens, country lanes. 

Both sexes are attracted especially to cruciferous where the female later place the eggs. The caterpillar's fodderplants are siliques from the Cuckoo flower (Cardamines pratensis), Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata),  Mouse-ear cress (Arabidopsis thaliana), Rock cress (Arabis), Tower cress, (Turritis glabra) and many other cruciferous.


The eggs are white to begin with but change to a bright orange after a few days before darkening off just before hatching. Because the larvae feed almost exclusively on the flowers and developing seedpods there is rarely enough food to support more than one larva per plant. If two larvae meet one will often be eaten by the other to eliminate its competitor. Newly hatched larvae will also eat unhatched eggs for the same reason. To stop eggs from being laid on plants already laid on the female leaves a pheromone to deter future females from laying.

Pupation occurs in early summer in scrubby vegetation near the foodplant, where they stay to emerge the following spring. Recent research suggests that the emergence of the butterfly may be delayed for as much as two years, thus insuring the species against unfavourable conditions in a given season.



In Denmark:
The Orange Tip (DK: Aurora)  is spread and few in numbers in West Jutland, but else widespread and common in the rest of the country. The species have spread and been more common in many places during the latest years because of the nitrate-tolerant Garlic mustard, which has replaced the Cuckoo flower as the most important host plant. .


Source: Michael Stoltze, Dagsommerfugle i Danmark, Gyldendal 1998.  Videnskab.dk, 2012.

photo Egtved, 9. May 2009: grethe bachmann
photo Skaade May 1999: stig bachmann nielsen, Naturplan.dk 

Sainfoin /Esparsette

Onobrychis viciifolia

Høvblege, Møn , at calcareous soil.

Sainfoin is a very attractive wild flower with pinnate leaves and dense spikes of pretty pink flowers with darker veins. Onobrychis means "devoured by donkeys" from Ancient Greek ónos (donkey) and brýkein ("to eat greedily"), referring to sainfoin's good properties as a forage plant for large mammalian herbivores. Sainfoin is derived from Old French sain foin = healthy hay.

In northern European languages that have been less influenced by French the plants' name usually derives from esparceto, the Provencal term for the similar-looking and closely related sweetvetches (Hedysarum). Examples: Danish esparsette, Dutch esparcette, German sparsette, Russian espartset (Эспарцет) and Swedish esparsett.

Sainfoins are Eurasian perennial herbs of the legume family. About 150 species of sainfoins are presently known. The flora Europaea lists 23 species of Onobrychis; the main centre of diversity extends from Central Asia to Iran. Onobrychis viciifolia is naturalized throughout many countries in Europe and North american grasslands on calcareous soils. Sanfoins are mostly subtropical plants, but their range extends throughout Europe as far north as southern Sweden.These plants grow on grassland, agricultural land and wasteland.

These highly nutritious plants were an important forage for heavy working horses in agriculture, and are still an excellent source of nectar for honey production as well as pollen for bee food. Onobrychis species are used as food plants by the caterpillars of some Lepidoptera species.


Høvblege, Møn, a hillside with lots and lots of various flowers.

Sainfoin was probably from the middle of the 1700s cultivated in Denmark but it never had a large distribution. It was said that sainfoin when used as a fodder for the cattle increased the milk yield and made oxen fat, but horses must have it mixed with other fodder "or else they will grow too fat". It was tested as a fodder in several places with unsatisfying results - but then it was cultivated as an ornamental plant. Not until 1875 the sainfoin became popular and considered a good fodder for cattle in general, since it had a larger nutritional value than clover and lucerne. The milk gets bluish if the cows eat sainfoin.

The birth of Jesus in a humble stable has given ample opportunity for several legends. While the tired parents slept, Jesus was placed in a manger filled with sainfoin. When they awoke they were astonished to find that the dry hay had blossomed, and the baby was surrounded by its beautiful red flowers. Ever since sainfoin has been known as Holy Hay.

In George Orwell's "Coming Up for Air", travelling salesman George Bowling regularly reminisces about the smell of sainfoin in his father's seed shop in Lower Binfield.

photo ⓒ Høvblege, Møn June 2007: grethe bachmannn.