Brazhnik Yazykan - "hummingbird" in the country

Brazhniki is an extensive family of medium and large heat-loving butterflies. Among more than 1 thousand species of insects leading a nocturnal lifestyle, there are several groups that break out of the general rhythm. Bozhnik tongue or proboscis refers to day butterflies. He performs his famous flights over flowers in the daytime, so people come across more often than nocturnal fellows.

Botanical description of the species

Sphynx common tongue (Macroglossum stellatarum) is a medium-sized butterfly. The body is thick, spindle-shaped. Chest and abdomen wide, flattened. Black stripes on the abdomen emphasize segmentation. At the end of the body is an unusual whisk of black hairs resembling a bird's tail. The head is large, the antennae and proboscis are black. The size of the moth is quite modest - body length 2-2.5 cm, wingspan - 4-5 cm. The front wings are long and narrow, they are dark in color - gray or brown. They show black wavy stripes of various thicknesses located transversely. The hind wings and the underside of the anterior are orange.

Due to the gray color of the wings with a pattern in the form of uneven stripes, butterflies become invisible against the background of trunks or tree branches. They can rest peacefully under the protection of camouflage. Taking off, the common lizard or the hawk stellate proboscis turns into a small jet plane. It flies at high speed (up to 50 km / h) with low buzz. Butterflies fly in search of food, the best habitats, mating partners.
Adults have a constant need to replenish carbohydrates, because they spend a lot of energy in the process of intensive flapping. The proboscis is a shredder, similar to a small hummingbird bird. Near the flowers of phlox or tagetes, the body of the butterfly freezes in stillness, but the wings work at great speed. It is difficult for the human eye to keep track of their movement.

Proboscis larva

The lagoon caterpillar is 45 mm long. The common color is green. The skin is grainy, after the first molt, white warts appear throughout the body. Two longitudinal stripes pass along the body - white and yellow. On the last segment there is a sharp straight horn with an orange top. Abdominal legs are reddish brown with black stripes.

Lifestyle

Bozhnik is a Yazykan active in the daytime, but can fly at dusk. He feels comfortable in cloudy and cool weather. The butterfly does not tolerate heat well, it falls into a sleepy state. It flies to flowers only in the early morning and evening, when the air temperature drops slightly. Moths are attracted by plants with a strong aroma and a large supply of nectar - jasmine, primrose, viola, French tagetes, phlox, verbena.

An interesting feature - butterflies demonstrate the presence of memory. They return to the selected colors for several days at a specific time. They remember the plants on which they ate and do not fly up to them a second time, but collect nectar from other flowers.

Habitat

Bozhnik is a Yazyk belongs to heat-loving insects, but it adapted to more moderate conditions. Insects are distributed throughout Europe, in the North of Africa and India, in Central Asia, in the Far East. In Russia, populations in the Caucasus, in the Crimea, in the south of the Urals and Siberia are noted.Some individuals fly to Yakutsk and Syktyvkar. Proboscis prefers sunny edges, gardens, can fly into city parks.

Breeding

The male and female of the tongue mate in the air or sitting on a branch. The process takes about an hour. For masonry, the fertilized female chooses the plants on which the caterpillars can feed. Fodder species for them are podmarienki - a family of grasses and shrubs and asterisk - a flowering plant from the clove family. Most of these herbs are weeds, some contain toxic substances.

The lagoon brazhnik butterfly lays eggs one at a time, attaching them with an adhesive substance to the leaf or stalk of the weed. Round eggs with a diameter of 1 mm, color pale green, glossy. The larva appears in 6-8 days. At birth, they are 2-3 mm long. At first they are yellow, in the second age, the color changes to green and becomes covered with yellow dots. They eat plentifully and grow quickly. Caterpillars prefer to eat at the top of plants. After five ages, the face turns red, falls to the ground and pupates. Under favorable conditions and adequate nutrition, the larval stage takes three weeks.

The color of the pupa is light brown, length 30-35 mm. in the area of ​​the wings and spiracle dark brown dots. The proboscis is indicated by a keeled bulge. The back end ends with a sharp spike. Many pupae die due to parasites that lay eggs in them. The main enemies of the hawks:

1. Braconids are equestrian wasps found around the world. They lay eggs on the tracks.
2. Tachids are dipteran insects, which are internal parasites of insects.

Interesting fact. The proboscis larvae often live on the same fodder plant with the caterpillars of the wine raspberry.

Proboscis parasites have 1-2 generations per season. For the winter, pupae and butterflies remain. Imago hiding in the cracks of the rocks, in the bark of trees, buildings. Insects fall into a state of suspended animation. They minimally consume stored energy. In temperate and northern latitudes, where in winter the temperature drops much below zero degrees, butterflies cannot survive.

Information. During the thaw, wintering butterflies wake up and fly out of hiding. They can be found in any month of winter.

The number of hawks is difficult to predict. In addition to climatic factors, regular migrations affect their population. The first generation, appearing in May and June, consists almost entirely of migrants arriving from southern countries. Second-generation butterflies that emerged from the pupa in August-October partially remain for the winter, but a large number of insects travel south. On the territory of the Crimea and the Kuban, the common-tongued brazhnik gives three generations per year.