Araschnia levana (Linnaeus, 1758)


Araschnia levana: Adult (Memmingen, early May 2014) [N] Araschnia levana: Female (river Iller near Unterbinnwang, SW-Bavaria, May 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Male (eastern Swabian Alb, April 2012) [N] Araschnia levana: Adult in spring [N] Araschnia levana: Adult (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany, late May 2012) [N] Araschnia levana: Adult [N] Araschnia levana: Adult (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany, early May 2012) [N] Araschnia levana: Adult (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany, late May 2012) [N] Araschnia levana: Adult (Memmingen, early May 2014) [N] Araschnia levana: Female [S] Araschnia levana: Freshly emerged adult [S] Araschnia levana: Male (eastern Swabian Alb, April 2012) [N] Araschnia levana: Male of the spring form levana [N] Araschnia levana: Female (eastern Swabian Alb, Germany, August 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Male (eastern Swabian Alb, August 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Adult (Eastern Swabian Alb, August 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Summer form prorsa [N] Araschnia levana: Female of the summer form with a bit more orange [N] Araschnia levana: Totally worn adult at the end of its life (summer generation) [S] Araschnia levana: Female at oviposition (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany, late May 2012) [N] Araschnia levana: Ovae (eastern Swabian Alb, Southern Germany, late May 2012) [N] Araschnia levana: Ovae [N] Araschnia levana: Hatched L1 larvae [S] Araschnia levana: Egg towers [M] Araschnia levana: Half-grown larvae [N] Araschnia levana: Half-grown larvae (Memmingen, S-Germany, August 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Half-grown larvae (Memmingen, S-Germany, August 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Half-grown larvae (Memmingen, S-Germany, August 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Half-grown larva (Memmingen, S-Germany, August 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Half-grown larvae (Memmingen, S-Germany, August 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Half-grown larvae (Memmingen, S-Germany, August 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Larva (Memmingen, S-Germany, August 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Larva (Memmingen, S-Germany, August 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Larva (Memmingen, S-Germany, August 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Larva (Memmingen, S-Germany, August 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Larva (Memmingen, S-Germany, August 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Larva (Memmingen, S-Germany, August 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Larva (Memmingen, S-Germany, August 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Larva (Memmingen, early July 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Larva (Memmingen, S-Germany, early July 2013) [M] Araschnia levana: Fully-grown larvae [M] Araschnia levana: Pupa [S] Araschnia levana: Pupa (e.l. Memmingen 2013) [S] Araschnia levana: Pupa (e.l. Memmingen 2013) [S] Araschnia levana: Pupa (e.l. Memmingen 2013) [S] Araschnia levana: Nest of larvae (Memmingen, August 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Nest of larvae (Memmingen, August 2013) [N] Araschnia levana: Larval habitat near Memmingen in August 2013 [N] Araschnia levana: Larval habitat near Memmingen in August 2013 [N] Araschnia levana: Habitat on the eastern Swabian Alb. Here you can observe the butterflies especially in spring and the larvae of both generations can be found on Urtica dioica (April 2012) [N] Araschnia levana: Butterfly habitat (Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany) on a moist clearing with Cirsium palustre and Angelica sylvestris (summer 2012) [N] Araschnia levana: View into a typical larval habitat (Upper Rhine, Germany, September 2012) [N]

Host plants:
The larvae feed on Urtica dioica.

Habitat:
Araschnia levana inhabits forests, parks and bushy to wooded wetlands. The adults usually occur only as nectar guests in open areas such as limestone grasslands. The caterpillar lives on partly to fully shaded nettles and only in autumn occasionally in sunny stocks.

Life cycle:
Araschnia levana is on the wing in two or three generations per year. Hibernation takes palce in the pupal stage. The butterlies appear in April/May, the following caterpillars mostly in June (late May to early July). The second generation flies between late June´and August, the third in warm years partially in August/September. The caterpillars are then observed in late summer from mid-July until mid-October.

Endangerment factors:
Today, Araschnia levana is common almost everywhere in Central Europe. It had been probably much more local 100 years ago. One important cause may be the rapid spread of nettle in our forests due to eutrophication.

Remarks:
The butterfly is interesting by its saisonal dichroism caused by temperature conditions and day length during larval development.
Oviposition in the tower is a speciality of this species among the Central European butterflies.

The overall distribution ranges from Northern Spain across central and Eastern Europe (to the south to the northernmost part of Greece: Rhodopes) and temperate Asia to Japan.