Scientific name
Callimorpha quadripunctaria
Popular name
Striped butterfly
Description
The striped butterfly is a medium-sized nocturnal species, with a 40-60 mm wing size and an extremely characteristic, unmistakable appearance.
Unlike other related species, the adults of this species have a well developed tube, which allows them to suck the nectar of the flowers. The thorax is black, with two cream-colored longitudinal strips. When they are at rest, the adults have a triangular shape, with the front wings brought to the back, completely covering the rear wings. Both pairs of wings have fringes. On the front wings there are some oblique white strips, two of which create a characteristic V-shaped design, while the rear wings are red with 3-4 black spots with irregular contours. This species also shows sexual dimorphism, females having hairless antennae and males having hairy antennae.
The striped butterfly is frequently encountered during the day on Eupatorium cannabinum bushes, which can be found especially along the watercourses and on wet meadows, where they feed on nectar from inflorescences and where they camouflage very well.
If it feels threatened, the butterfly adopts various defense strategies: it hides under the inflorescences (a position that it adopts as a protection measure also during the rain or in the morning, when there is still abundant moisture on the vegetation), it opens the front wings to expose the rear wings that have a warning coloration, it flies on the higher branches of nearby shrubs or on other plants on which it can camouflage.
Reproduction
The striped butterfly has only one generation a year. Larvae live on species of Rosaceae, Platanus, vine or acacia and become cocoons on the ground. The flight period begins at the end of June and lasts until September. The adult is especially active in the twilight. It periodically migrates over distances of about 300 m. It spends the winter in the larval stage.
Critical period
For this species, the critical periods are the feeding periods of the larvae and the adult, when, as a result of habitat degradation or destruction, the plants on which the larvae feed or the plants that provide nectar to adults can lack completely.
Habitat
The striped butterfly can be found in grasslands and wet meadows with underwoods, in the clearings and at the end of moist deciduous forests, on the banks of watercourses rich in vegetation, in dense shrubbery and on wet slopes with underwoods and abundant vegetation. On the territory of Romania, it has been spotted up to about 1,000 m altitude.
Distribution
This species is spread from southern England to Iran. In Romania, it can be found everywhere, except for the Danube Delta, being more common in the hilly submontane areas and missing in high mountain areas, at altitudes above 1200 m.
