Relatively bright burdock butterfly is similar in appearance to hives. Their coloration is almost the same, but they differ only in that the burdock is slightly lighter, there are dots on the edges of its wings.
The article presents photos and characteristics of the burdock butterfly.
General information about butterflies
It should be noted that these butterflies are the only insects that can be admired endlessly. These are surprisingly delicate and fragile creatures. They differ in a variety of colors and patterns, similar to unusual fluttering flowers. And the most amazing thing is that an ordinary caterpillar is able to transform so much that it turns into such a charming creature.
Butterflies are one of the 34 units of the Insect class. They belong to the kingdom Animals and the phylum Arthropoda. Their number is more than 350,000 species. Among them there are both day representatives and night ones.
Description
The burdock butterfly belongs to the genus Vanessa from the Nymphalidae family. Her Latin name is Vanessa cardui, and in Russia she is known as the thistle or thistle.
It is just over 30 millimeters long and has a wingspan of 65 millimeters. Against the background of her bright orange wings, symmetrical white and black spots are noticeable. The color intensity decreases towards the back. There is a black and white border in the front, and separate bright dots in the back.
A butterfly's antennae are thin and long antennae that thicken at the end. The front legs are slightly shortened, the burdock often “washes” them.
Distribution area
Thistle butterflies have a very wide distribution. They cannot be found only in Antarctica and in the countries of South America. Its northern limit of distribution reaches the tundra. But in the high latitudes of this area, the butterfly does not breed. It winters in the southern parts of Europe.
One well-known fact should be mentioned - sometimes the burdock butterfly flies to the northern islands of Svalbard, Iceland and Kolguev.
Butterfly preferred habitats:
- forest edges;
- roadsides;
- marginal sections of fields;
- lots of gardens and cottages;
- grass meadows;
- slopes of mountains and hills;
- coastal areas of reservoirs.
Butterflies can be found everywhere where nettles and thistles grow. They can even reach mountainous areas where altitudes reach 2000 meters, but they prefer flat, sunny and dry terrain, avoiding dense and dark forests.
Reproduction
Females lay one egg each on the leaves of fodder plant species. Caterpillars usually build shelters for themselves from folded several leaves, which are fastened together with silk. In such a "shelter" they eat a hole between the veins of the leaves. During the entire life span, one caterpillar builds about 8 such "shelters". There is also pupation. The pupa is attached to the leaf head down. In this stage, the insect stays for 2-3 weeks, then a beautiful butterfly emerges from it.
Forage plants of caterpillars: stinging nettle, yarrow, thistle, cultural soybean, stinging nettle, common coltsfoot. In the northern regions, the caterpillars develop practically on nettles, thistles and wild thistles.
Description of the burdock butterfly for children
In the summer, you can often see beautiful butterflies fluttering in the air, landing on flowers of various plants. Among them are orange ones, which (like many other varieties of these insects) sit on flowers and drink nectar. This is a diurnal butterfly, whose name comes from the Latin word Carduus, which translates as thistle. And this plant is one of the types of food for the caterpillars of this butterfly. They call this butterfly thistle or burdock.
It is painted in brownish-pink or reddish color, there are black spots on the edges of the wings. Butterfly burdock (photo presented in the article) is one of the most famous among traveler butterflies that fly long distances for wintering. living inEurope, they winter in sunny Africa - south of the Sahara desert. It should be noted that during the wintering period they are not half asleep (like some species, for example, monarchs), but move quite actively, feed and even breed. With the advent of spring, huge flocks of thistles, overcoming the Mediterranean Sea and the Alps, rush to the north. Moreover, along the way, some of the butterflies settle in the territories beyond the mountains, and some move further north. Thus, by mid-May, such amazingly fragile creatures reach the northern regions of Belarus, England, Germany and even Scandinavia.
Butterflies fly in flocks from south to north across Europe to give birth to a new generation, they die after that. In a day, they can fly about 500 kilometers at a speed of 25 km / h. They can even fly at night. It is amazing that such delicate and fragile creatures have such endurance, and also know where to fly.
It may be interesting for children that these little creatures (like huge elephants) eat through their trunks, even though they have very small sizes.
Benefits and harms
If we talk about the harmful effect of the burdock butterfly on the environment, then this impact can be considered insignificant. Thistle caterpillars infect weeds to a greater extent, and in small volumes.
At the same time, the freezing of entire generations of these insects in some areas leads to a reduction in butterflies as a species. This fact makes us think about taking measures to protect them. For example, inIn the Smolensk region of Russia, burdock has been listed in the local regional Red Book since 1997.
