NORTH-WESTERN JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY 9 (1): 1-5 ©NwjZ, Oradea, Romania, 2013 Article No.: 121130 http://biozoojournals.3x.ro/nwjz/index.html

Habitat requirements of conspicuous burnet moth ephialtes (Linnaeus, 1767; : )

Jakub HORÁK

Czech University of Life Sciences, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Kamýcká 1176, CZ-16521, 6, , E-mail: [email protected]

Received: 01. September 2011 / Accepted: 10. June 2012 / Available online: 04. September 2012 / Printed: June 2013

Abstract. The burnet moth is one of the largest and most conspicuous burnet moths. This species was studied in Eastern Bohemia (Czech Republic). The study was focused on altitudinal distribution of Z. ephialtes in the study region, its preference to the management intensity and aspect of the habitat. Zygaena ephialtes was observed in 17 sites and the species reached higher abundances in abandoned open lands with south and southwest aspect. The species was distributed near lower altitudes, but only where the topography was more rugged. It is disputable if the species belong to the threatened fauna in the region, which was formerly indicated. Nevertheless, its distribution is almost restricted to the abandoned xeric grasslands, which are often afforested and vanishing from the landscape. Only a few of such sites are traditionally managed, these include protected areas and old orchards.

Keywords: Altitude, aspect, management intensity, xeric grassland.

Introduction The caterpillar is dimorphic yellow with black segments. Pupa is brown, usually spun on stems The burnet moth Zygaena ephialtes (Linnaeus, 1767; of grasses (see Naumann et al. 1999 for details). Lepidoptera: Zygaenidae) belongs to the con- Host plants are purple crownvetch (Securigera spicuous and well known of the European varia) and horseshoe vetch (; grasslands and shrublands. Despite this the spe- Gregor & Povolný 1955). Naumann et al. (1999) cies has been poorly studied and information on mentioned only the former, however scorpion its habitat requirements is limited to general litera- senna () was also been observed ture on entomology (e.g. Novák & Severa 2005) or as an occasional host plant (Naumann et al. 1999). burnet moths (Gregor & Povolný 1955, Naumann This study specifically focused on the altitud- et al. 1999). There are only a few studies from re- inal distribution of Z. ephialtes and its preference cent times (Burgeff & Schneider 1979, Sbordoni et for the management intensity and aspect of the al. 1979), although these not dealt with its habitat habitat. requirements. Zygaena ephialtes is one of the largest burnet Materials and methods moths (Gregor & Povolný 1955). The species is hyper-polymorphic, thus one population could Study area consist of more morphs, with two basic body col- My study was located in the Czech Republic, in Par- ours – peucedanoid and ephialtoid (Naumann et dubice Region (see Faltysová et al. 2002 for precious de- al. 1999). The most similar burnet moth is an allo- scription of the study region) and adjacent territories. The mapping occurred from the Přelouč surroundings in the patric species, Zygaena dorycnii Ochsenheimer, west to the foothills of Orlické hory in the east (Horák & which is distributed in Turkey and Southern Rus- Šafářová 2010; Table 1). sia. The yellow ephialtoid type mimics the nine- spotted moth Amata phegea (Linnaeus; Lepidop- Variables and data processing In total nearly 40 potentially suitable sites were visited. tera: Arctiidae). The population phenology was studied during four Zygaena ephialtes is distributed from Spain to summers (2007-2010). Thanks to species conspicuousness Ural. It is not distributed in the British Isles, I used only direct observations of adults approximately northern Europe, or large Mediterranean Sea is- 30-45 min per site. GPS coordinates and aspects were ex- lands. cerpted from www.mapy.cz, altitude was computed us- It is known to possess flight which is usually ing GPS Visualizer (Schneider 2010). Management inten- slow and undulating. The adults are frequently sity was studied in the field. The categories of manage- ment intensity were counted in an ordinal scale from 0 observed feeding at flowers. Eggs are pale yellow, (abandoned) to 3 (intensively managed). deposited in batches consisting of a single layer. The number of localities in which the species was 2 J. Horák

Table 1. Localities of occurrence listed in alphabetical order of Zygaena ephialtes in region and adjacent terri- tories with name of locality, cadastral territory, GPS (latitude and longitude), average altitude (m a. s. l.), aspect, management intensity and maximum observed adults (ex.). [Alt.- altitude, Lat.- latitude, Lon.- longitude, Max.ab.- maximum abundance]

Locality Cadastral territory Lat. Lon. Alt. Aspect Management Max.ab. Dlouholoučské stráně Dlouhá Loučka 49.7083 16.6439 396 Southwest Abandoned (2010 2 mowed once a year) Dolcovaté Široký Důl 49.7481 16.2197 548 Southwest Abandoned 3 Domovina Borovnice u Potštejna 50.0581 16.2533 319 Southwest Abandoned 1 Homole Janovičky u Zámrsku 49.9800 16.0983 290 South Abandoned 12 Chrašická stráň Chrast 49.9033 15.9525 272 Southwest Mowed once a year 5 Klapalka Střemošice 49.8883 16.0553 379 South Abandoned 1 Kunětická hora Ráby 50.0786 15.8131 257 Southwest Pastured and mowed 1 (partly abandoned) Malá Lhota Lhoty u Potštejna 50.0547 16.2647 388 Northeast Mowed once a year 1 Na Farářství Střemošice 49.8936 16.0658 379 South Pastured (partly aban- 1 doned) Na Parapleti Újezd u Chocně 50.0275 16.1706 299 Northeast Mowed twice a year 1 (partly abandoned) Na Vrších Mokrá Lhota 49.8592 16.1264 444 Southwest Abandoned 3 Pod Horou 50.0478 16.1872 285 Southwest Abandoned 1 Podvrdy Tupesy u Přelouče 50.0011 15.5636 233 East Abandoned 1 Při Srubech Sruby 50.0064 16.1658 346 Southwest Commercial forest 1 plantations Štěpánovské stráně Štěpánov u Skutče 49.8556 16.0111 410 Southwest Pastured (with one 1 year rotation) V Porostlinách Poběžovice u Holic 50.0908 16.0017 304 Southeast Abandoned 1 Vranová Vranová Lhota 49.7192 16.8258 355 Southeast Abandoned (partly 2 mowed once a year)

present (i.e. presences) and the maximum numbers of ob- The species was more often observed during served individuals (i.e. abundance) were recorded. An ac- nectaring and flying, nevertheless one observerva- count of the aspect and management intensity was made tion was made of mating in Homole (July29th 2010, wherever observations were made to provide an illustra- Fig. 4). tive description of the habitat preferences. Linear trends were computed using linear regression and altitudinal distribution values were both computed in Statistica 7.0 (Hill & Lewicki 2007). Discussion

Study species and character of habitats Results Data indicates that Zygaena ephialtes prefer xeric sites in most parts of the Czech Republic, although Zygaena ephialtes was observed in 17 sites and the the species was also known to be occasionally dis- species occurred in abandoned xeric (Table 1; Fig. tributed in more humid sites in southern Bohemia 1, 2). Fig. 1 illustrates that Zygaena ephialtes was (Gregor & Povolný 1955). In this study the species present and reached higher abundances in sites was observed in non-xeric (i.e. more humid) sites with south and southwest aspect. only twice. In both sites, Domovina and Malá The species preferred sites recently aban- Lhota, the species was caught during a quick fly- doned. If the species was found on sites with in- ing event in the evening time. The habitats were tensive management, such sites included also unmowed humid meadows with the presence of parts which were abandoned (e.g. Na Vrších) or in the dusky , Phengaris nausithous less naturally forested parts of long time aban- (Bergsträsser). Typical wetland butterfly fauna, doned sites (e.g. Klapalka). like P. nausithous or scarce large blue, P. telejus The species was distributed near to the lower (Bergsträsser), was also observed on other three altitude sites, however only when the topography sites. These sites were formerly typical xeric ones, was more rugged (e.g. Kunětická hora in Polabí although they were abandoned (Klapalka), par- lowland, Fig. 3). tially forested (Na Vrších) or closer to northern

Habitat of Zygaena ephialtes 3

Figure 1. The number of localities (grey col- Figure 3. Altitudinal distribution of Zygaena our) with occurrence of Zygaena ephialtes in ephialtes in the study area. Blacksquare relation to aspect of a site. The black colour shows a median (346.0 m a. s. l.), black line represents the preference for particular is average (347.3), and whiskers show the point of compass showing the number of minimum (233.0) and maximum (548.0) alti- tude. observed individuals of study species.

Figure 2. The number of localities (grey circles) with occurrence of Zygaena ephialtes in relation to the management intensity (from 0 – abandoned to 3 – intensively managed), the black squares represent the preference for a particular management intensity using number of observed individuals of study species.

Figure 4. Mating adults of Zygaena ephialtes in Homole. 4 J. Horák

aspect (Na Parapleti). These sites became recently Conservation value of study species more shaded and thus more humid. Zygaena ephialtes is indicated as a fundamental One individual was also observed during nec- part of xeric habitats in study region (Šumpich taring close to a small marsh in the forest interior 2001a). Šumpich (2001a) further mentioned that in Při Srubech. The site was surrounded by conif- the species is vanishing from the landscape due to erous stands and the closest grassland was more long-term abandonment of xeric grasslands (Po- than 0.5 km far from observed site. However, most schlod & WallisDeVries 2002, Scalercio et al. 2007, parts of neighbouring forest stand were harvested Holuša et al. 2010). This study shows that the during salvage cutting after the windstorms Kyrill abandonment could not be the detrimental factor, and Emma. This occurrence indicated a possi- because Z. ephialtes was more abundant in aban- blyhigher mobility of Z. ephialtes – contrary to lit- doned sites. However, the species is (as most other erature (Naumann et al. 1999), because the species burnets and day-butterflies) not able to survive in was also observed during quick flying events for naturally forested or afforested sites with closed longer distances (e.g. Domovina). The species canopy. Thus, the management with lower inten- could have been adapted to coppice-like habitats sity like traditional pasturing of xeric grasslands, in the past (e.g. Benes et al. 2006). Duke of Bur- wood pasturing or early stages of forest succession gundy butterfly Hamearis lucina (Linnaeus), which after coppicing in forests could create suitable is known to be associated with sparse forest stands habitats for this Zygaena species. Recently, this (e.g. coppices; Anthes et al. 2008), occurred also butterfly has to travel much more through the along forest tracks in study area. Presence of landscape to search for supplementary habitats sparse stands of old pines could be another reason like salvage cuttings in forests (e.g. Při Srubech), causing the occurrence of study species (Naumann protected areas (e.g. Chrašická stráň), ruderal sites et al. 1999). (e.g. Kunětická hora), or other succession sites cre- One steep old plum orchard (Pod Horou) ated by human activities (e.g. Tupesy, see e.g. hosted both xeric [Silver-spotted Skipper, Hesperia Tropek at al. 2010). comma (Linnaeus), burnet moth, Novák & Spitzer (1982) indicated that Z. (Scopoli)] and wetland fauna (P. nausithous, P. tele- ephialtes vanished during the 1980s from the sur- jus). This plum orchard was formerly a part of a roundings of two of the largest cities in the Czech larger xeric grassland area, which has been re- Republic – Praha and Brno. However, recent stud- cently abandoned. ies showed that the species still occurs there, al- All other nine sites were typical xeric sites though at the lower population densities (e.g. with occurrence of xeric specialists. The critically Konvicka & Kadlec 2011). endangered specialists large blue, Phengaris arion Before this study Z. ephialtes was indicated in (Linnaeus) and the rattle , study region only from Štěpánovské Stráně (Šum- stridulus (Linnaeus) (e.g. Horák and Šafářová 2010) pich 2001a). There were only a few historical men- were presented in Dlouholoučské stráně and tions from neighbouring areas – Vápenný Podol Vranová. These two sites also hosted other xeric (Sterneck 1929) and Lichnice (Šumpich 2001a) in specialists like the chalk hill blue, Polyommatus Železné hory, and Kostelec nad Orlicí, Rychnov coridon (Poda) and the Meleager's blue, Polyom- nad Kněžnou, Čestice and Kvasiny from 1970s in matus daphnis (Denis & Schiffermüller). the foothills of Orlické hory (Šumpich 2001b). Most of xeric sites were typical with presence Zygaena ephialtes is mentioned in literature as of bare soil caused by pasture (Na Farářství), mo- (critically) endangered indicator of the natural torbikes (Štěpánovské Stráně) and former clay pits state of habitats (Šumpich 2001a, Zámečník 2003). (Podvrdy) with presence of other xeric specialists However, this ranking is based only on its rare- like silver-studded blue, Plebejus argus (Linnaeus) ness in and not on IUCN criteria and Z. carniolica. (IUCN 2001). Comparison of the recent species The rest of the sites with higher abundances distribution within the Pardubice region with the were sweet cherry orchards marked by the pres- historical distribution is nearly impossible. This is ence of xeric fauna (e.g. Z. carniolica) in Chrašická because the Z. ephialtes component of the extensive stráň, Kunětická hora, V Porostlinách, Dolcovaté collection of burnet moths of O. Komárek from the and Homole. These orchards were abandoned, al- 1950s was probably destroyed or lost (Zámečník though bare soil was still present. 2003).

Habitat of Zygaena ephialtes 5

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