Zygaena (Agrumenia) carniolica

• Subfamily: Zygaeninae
• Wingspan: 25-34 mm
• Flight period: May - Aug
• Spread: Common
• Host plants: Fabaceae

Information

The Zygaena carniolica is a moth of the Zygaenidae family with a wingspan of 25-34 mm.
Moth widespread in most of Europe is absent in the northernmost area such as Ireland, the United Kingdom, Holland, Denmark, the Scandinavian peninsula and Lithuania. *
Its range includes north Africa and western Asia, extending to Turkestan and Altai.
In Italy it is also present in Sicily, in Sardinia it is replaced by the congener Zygaena orana . *

The front wings of the Zygaena carniolica have a metallic black-green background color, densely scaled with pale reddish yellow fringes. 6 red spots are visible (even if the two in the basal area have the appearance of a single spot) often, but not always surrounded by white, the sixth is in the shape of a crescent. **

The hind wings are deep red with a black border.
Characterized by a high number of subspecies in some of these the spots and the hind wings have a yellow / orange color. **

Zygaena carniolica is found on limestone prairies exposed to the sun, steppe slopes, barren pastures and locally on clearings in luminous woods.
Due to the long larval development time, the breeding habitats are exposed almost exclusively from southeast to southwest.
Univoltina the flickers take place between May and August depending on the latitude. It winters in the larva stage and pupation occurs between March and mid-April. ***

The eggs of the Zygaena carniolica are yellow, ovoid, shiny, and are laid in groups. The larva is light green with pale yellow dorsal and lateral lines, dorsally visible on each segment a pair of black spots of more or less triangular shape, it is covered with sparse white hairs. **

The light brown chrysalis forms inside a compact pale yellow silky cocoon. **, ***

The larvae feed on Fabaceae in particular on Lotus sp. but it can also be found on various species of Anthyllis, Dorycnium and Onobrychis.


* Lepidoptera mundi https://lepidoptera.eu/ - Fauna Europea https://fauna-eu.org/
** Bestimmungshilfe für die in Europa nachgewiesenen Schmetterlingsarten - http://lepiforum.de/
*** Lepidotptera and their ecology - http://www.pyrgus.de/