Butterfly Sennitsa - description, habitat, species

Butterfly sennitsa pamphilus (has the second name "small yellow satyr") - one of the ancient species of butterflies, they belong to the family Velvetnitsa. The Latin name is Coenonympha pamphylius L. The name "Pamphilus" was supposedly given in honor of Plato's student, Pamphilus, which in Greek means "beloved by all."

Habitat

Meeting a butterfly is currently very difficult. In some regions, it was almost completely exterminated, as it is considered a pest because of incredible gluttony. For example, in Germany sennitsa (mainly caterpillars) destroyed many corn fields, crops of pepper and tomatoes, as well as many flower fields.

Butterflies feed mainly on the juices of various plants and rotten fruits, moisture from flies and mineral salts from feces. It is known that butterflies love shade, most often it can be found on a cloudy, cool day, while on hot days they hide in the shadows of the foliage of forests and parks.

Sennitsa has a very wide habitat. They live almost everywhere where winters are soft enough for their survival. Found in countries of Eastern Europe, it is not uncommon to meet such butterflies in the Caucasus Mountains. They also live in Western and Central Asia, in the west of Siberia, in Mongolia, Crimea and even in the northern African regions.

There are butterflies in places such as:

• meadows and forests;
• riverbanks and forest edges;
• various wastelands and pastures;
• city ​​parks and squares;
• roadsides;
• in gardens and clearings with dense vegetation;
• cereal planted fields;
• settlements.

To summarize, then wherever food is found there is protection from the hot sun. Less often, however, they were nevertheless noted on biotopes not very suitable for development — the sandy sea coasts of the Black Sea.

Butterflies begin to show particular activity in late spring - from April, and until mid-late autumn, when the temperature drops to conditions that are not comfortable for the sennitsa. The butterfly flies slowly enough, often sits on flowers to feed them with nectar, posing in front of photographers and just lovers of these winged insects.

Appearance Features

The Sennitsa pamphil is a butterfly of the day; it has a relatively small wingspan. In appearance, they resemble a close relative - the marsh sennitsa. The length of the front wing is 14-17 mm.

Specific Features:

1. The eyes of the sennica are naked, without hairline.
2. Uniform antennae, with a gradual thickening of the mace.
3. The edges of the wings of the butterfly are rounded, the color is usually yellow, reddish or brown with various variations of these tones.
4. The wings on the back have rather large oval spots; veins of slightly contrasting colors of the general background are also clearly visible.
5. A pair of swollen veins are located on the front wings, and the underside has ocular spots on the background of an orange hue.

Appearance is very individual and depends mainly on the habitat of a particular butterfly.

It is impossible to see the most picturesque, upper surface of the wings of a butterfly while it is in a calm state.

Life cycle and reproduction of offspring

Depending on the climatic conditions of the habitat of the butterfly, Sennitsa will give a different number of generations.

1. In the areas of the northern latitudes, butterflies give only one generation, and active flight takes place only in the middle of summer.
2. The climate of the middle lane makes it possible to develop two or three generations of butterflies. The first round of active flight runs from mid-May and lasts until June, then the second generation takes over, the flight of which lasts until mid-September.
3. The most favorable conditions for the reproduction of offspring to butterflies are provided by the southern regions, where they reproduce three generations or more, and activity often reaches even October.

The appearance of the caterpillars is quite ordinary, has pinkish or green colors, longitudinal stripes on the back with light bordering. The green head has white sides.

Sennitsa caterpillars are most often found in plants of forage crops. The most active in the dark, in search of food. The caterpillar stage takes from Sennitsa from 19 to 21 days.

If the caterpillar catches winter, it pupates (pupa diameter 0.9 mm, at a height of 1.1 mm) as close to the soil as possible. The developed caterpillars are placed vertically down, settling on the stems of plants. Despite the harmfulness and sabotage of the Sennica butterfly, scientists are doing their best to preserve this species.