Brazhnik dead head - a rare guest from the African continent, features of the species

Brazhniki is an extensive family of 1200 species of large and medium butterflies. They were nicknamed “Northern Hummingbirds” for a special way of eating. One of the most prominent representatives of the family is the Brazhnik dead head. The wingspan reaches 130 mm, body weight - 9 g. The people's close attention to the butterfly is explained by the unusual pattern on her chest. The yellow figure on a dark background resembles a human skull. A frightening picture caused various superstitions related to the moth.

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Butterfly Dead head or Adam's head belongs to the order Lepidoptera, a family of Hornworms. This is the second largest butterfly in Europe, after the peacock-eye of a pear. In Russia, it is the largest representative of the hawthorn family.

Imago

The adult hawthorn dead head has a large size and characteristic appearance. The body is thick, spindle-shaped, densely covered with hairs. The chest is brown or bluish-brown, on the back there is a yellow pattern in the form of a skull with empty eye sockets. In some instances, the pattern is fuzzy or completely absent. The front wings are elongated; their length is twice the width. The wingspan for males is 90-115 mm, for females - 110-130 mm. The color of the wings is changeable, the intensity and location of spots and stripes vary.

Most often, the front wings are dark brown, they are divided into three fields with three blurry wavy stripes of yellow color. The hind wings are beveled in shape; there is a recess along the edge in front of the anal angle. The color is bright yellow with two wide black stripes located longitudinally. The outer band is wider and has a serrated edge. Interestingly, the color and width of the stripes can vary. Sometimes they become brown or merge into one.

Interesting fact. Butterfly in case of danger emits a piercing squeak. This is an extremely rare occurrence for a representative of the Lepidoptera order. This is a rare ability. For a long time, the origin of the sound remained a mystery. Only at the beginning of the XX century. The scientist Heinrich Prell discovered that sound is emitted by the oscillation of the outgrowth of the insect's upper lip.

The head of the moth is black, the antennae are short, rod-shaped, they are sensory organs. On the sides of the head are large, well-developed eyes. Unlike other hawks, at the dead head the proboscis is short - 10-14 mm.

The abdomen is wide, ocher-yellow with black half rings and a gray-blue longitudinal stripe. Sexual dimorphism is weakly expressed, but individuals can be distinguished by size and color - in males, the last 2-3 segments of the abdomen are black or gray-blue. The abdomen is 60 mm long and 20 mm in diameter.

Information. In males, the abdomen is sharp, and in females it is rounded.

The paws of the insect are short and thick. They are covered with four longitudinal rows of durable studs. Hind tibia with spurs. Strong and tenacious legs help the moth adhere to a certain lifestyle. During the day, the butterfly is at rest. She sits on tree trunks or litter.Only in the evening goes on a flight for food.

Caterpillar

The larva of the hawk-dead head is rather large. Adult caterpillar 12-15 cm long. Individuals with different colors are found - green, yellow, brown. Lemon yellow is the most common option. A blue stripe runs diagonally across each body segment. Starting from the fourth segment, the back of the caterpillar is dotted with small black dots. On the sides are larger black round spots. Instances with a basic green color are decorated with darker green stripes. The horn in the back of the body is yellow in color, grainy and rough in structure. It has a double-curved shape, similar to the Latin letter S.

Fodder plants

The caterpillar and adult of a brazhnik dead head belong to polyphages. Because of the short proboscis, butterflies do not feed on nectar of flowers. The food for them is the juice of trees and damaged fruits. Nutrition is important not only to maintain the life of the butterfly, but also affects the maturation of the eggs in the female. With great pleasure, moths eat honey of wild and domestic bees. They pierce the honeycomb and drink 5-15 g of sweet honey at a time. Hoggers adapted to steal a product from the hive. A dense cuticle helps them to pass the guards, which does not allow poison to pass through. For free movement in the hive, they use chemical disguise.
Butterflies secrete chemicals that hide their smell and soothe bees. If problems arise, the hawk escapes. The insect is not very sensitive to bee venom. But with a swarm attack, the death of a butterfly is inevitable. Hog is not capable of harming an apiary. Insects are found in single individuals, so they are not able to ravage the hive.

Interesting fact. Initially, the theory was considered that for disguise a butterfly makes sounds similar to a queen bee that left the cocoon. The version turned out to be erroneous, but many beekeepers believe in it.

Caterpillars prefer different species of plants from the nightshade family:

• potatoes;
• tomato;
• nightshade;
• dope;
• tobacco;
• belladonna.

In the absence of preferred food, they are moved to honeysuckle, legumes, olives (lilac, jasmine), cabbage, dill, and hawthorn. Fruit trees (plum, apple tree, pear) do not bypass.

Distribution area

The insect is distributed over a wide area covering the tropical part of Africa, the island of Madagascar, the Middle East, the western part of the Palearctic. The eastern border of distribution passes through Turkmenistan. The species is found in the south of Europe, in Turkey, Transcaucasia, Crimea. On the territory of Russia, it is seen in the southern and central regions of the European part of the country. Brazhnik settles in the open woodland, in the fields, prefers a cultural landscape with shrubs. In the center of Europe, it can be found in the fields of potatoes. In Transcaucasia, it settles at the foot of the mountains at an altitude of up to 700 m.

Migration

A dead head butterfly belongs to migratory species. Annually, insect colonies fly from Africa and other tropical countries to the north. In new places, temporary colonies are formed. The duration of the flight and the distribution boundary depends on weather conditions. In the warmer years, hawks climb to Iceland. In Russia, migrant insects appear in St. Petersburg, in the south of Tyumen, the Kola Peninsula.

Propagation Features

In Africa, Acherontiaatropos live and breed year round, generation after generation. In the Palearctic, butterflies give two generations. In rare cases, with a protracted warm season - three. Moths are active in the dark, so mating occurs at night. During this period, they are especially attracted by artificial light sources. Fertilized females lay eggs on fodder plants. The eggs are round, slightly larger than 1 mm in diameter. Coloring is greenish or bluish. In clutch there are 20-150 eggs.

The spawning larva is light, almost white. In its development, it replaces five ages. The caterpillar of the first age is 12 mm in size, it is light green, has no characteristic pattern.

At the second age, a horn appears that appears large in relation to the body. The growth color is brown.

Change of ages occurs after molting. The caterpillar becomes larger in size, new properties appear. By the third age, the larva acquires a pattern of blue or purple stripes and black dots. Her horn brightens and becomes bumpy.

Larvae of the fourth age grow up to 40-50 mm, their body weight is 4 g. An interesting fact is that the caterpillars always eat the skin remaining after molting.

The fifth-year caterpillar is quite large, it reaches 15 cm in length and weighs up to 22 g. It becomes less mobile. With a clear threat, the caterpillar bites, but for a person its weak jaws are safe.

The duration of the larval stage is up to 8 weeks. Then in the underground chamber at a depth of 15 cm she pupates. The pupa is smooth, initially yellow, then turns red-brown. Pupae do not tolerate frosts; in cold winters, they die massively. Usually, migration from insects from the southern regions contributes to the restoration of the population.

Natural enemies (parasites)

Throughout life, the hawthorn dead head is attacked by various parasitoids. Danger lurks insects at any stage of development: an egg, a larva, a pupa. Paritoids are organisms living at the expense of the host. Among them are various types of real riders. Small and medium wasps lay eggs in the body of the caterpillars. Their offspring develops, parasitizing on the larvae of the hawk.

Tachins, two-winged insects similar to flies, infect caterpillars with their eggs, laying them on fodder plants. Larvae live in the host’s body, gradually eating its organs. Having fully formed, they go outside.

Insect protection

In 1984, Brazhnik, a dead head, was listed in the Red Book of the USSR. Today it is quite common and does not need special protection. Butterfly excluded from the Red Book of Russia. In Ukraine, the insect is classified as a rare species, it is assigned the III category and a place in the Red Book is determined. Most often, you can find single individuals of the hawk. The insect population fluctuates in different years. The decrease in the number of insects is associated with various factors:

• change in weather conditions;
• chemical treatment of feed plants;
• uprooting shrubs;
• the ruin of habitual habitats.

The most favorable population situation in the Caucasus. There are mild winters, so the pupae easily tolerate them. The rarity of the species in other regions is associated with mass treatment of potato fields with insecticides. Brazhnik caterpillars die in the process of bullying a Colorado potato beetle. Propagation of the species occurs only on wild cultures of the nightshade family. To preserve the species in the fauna of the Russian Federation, explanatory work is carried out among schoolchildren about the inadmissibility of the extermination of large caterpillars and other insects.

Superstitions and legends

The Latin name of the species Acherontiaatropos is associated with Greek myths. Acheron - one of the rivers of the underworld, this word means horror. Atropos is an inevitable death, the name of one of the goddesses of fate. The Russian version of the name "Dead Head" is associated with a skull pattern, in many European countries a butterfly is called by this characteristic feature.

The unusual coloring of the butterfly gave rise to many superstitions and myths. She was considered a harbinger of various misfortunes and misfortunes: wars, epidemics, ruin. In some regions of France, it is still believed that a moth caught in the eye can cause blindness. Brazhnik dead head became the protagonist of the story of Edgar Allan Poe "The Sphinx." An interesting story connects the butterfly and the artist Van Gogh. In 1889, inspired by the unusual look of the insect, he painted the painting “Brazhnik dead head”. But the master was mistaken, on the canvas he depicted a small peacock-eye.