| Blood Droplet Burnet (Zygaena minos (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775)) |
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Scientific name: Zygaena minos (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775) Common name: Blood Droplet Burnet French name: Zygène diaphane, Zygène du Serpolet Order: Lepidoptera Suborder: Heterocera Family: Zygaenidae Subfamily: Zygaeninae Wingspan: 33-37 mm. Biotope: Dry and calcareous meadows, sandy places. Geographic area: Southern and central Europe. Missing in the British Isles and in the Iberian Peninsula. Flight time: Late June to early August. Number of generations : 1 Caterpillar: Milky white or very pale green with small black spots and yellow maculae next to the spiracles. Host plant: Burnet Saxifrage (Pimpinella saxifraga) and sometimes Thistles of the Eryngium genus. |
The Blood Droplet Burnet shows three red bands on the fore wing. Note : The red spots on Burnets are generally numbered from 1 to 6. Spots 1 and 2 are in the basal area. Spots 3 and 4 are in the median area. Spots 5 and 6 are in the submarginal area. Spots 1, 3 and 5 are next to the costal edge. Spots 2, 4 and 6 are next to the inner edge. Spot 6 is missing on the Blood Droplet Burnet. Spot 1 is elongated. Spots 2 and 4 are merged and form one red band, just like spots 3 and 5 too. The band formed by spot 1 is thinner than the two others. The band formed by spots 3 and 5 is clearly widened towards the tip of the wing. There is a well marked gap between the back of band 2-4 and the back of band 3-5. The abdomen does not show any red ring. It is quite impossible to tell the Blood Droplet Burnet (Zygaena minos) apart from the Transparent Burnet (Zygaena purpuralis) without a close exam of the genitalia. One other possibility is to be in a zone where one of these species is missing (supposing a good reliability of the distribution maps...). You can tell apart Zygaena erythrus, which is found in Mediterranean France, by the presence of red scales between band 2-4 and the inner edge of the wing, at least from the base to one third of the wing. Zygaena brizae, which is found in the southern Alps, does not show any well marked gap between the back of band 2-4 and the back of band 3-5. The band formed by spots 3 and 5 widens much less clearly towards the end of the wing. |
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The examination of the red patches on the fore wings easily leads us to the two species Zygaena purpuralis-minos. I have told apart this Burnet as the Blood Droplet Burnet (Zygaena minos) by looking at the available distribution maps on the lepinet.fr web site. Zygaena purpuralis is described as missing in the French department of "les Yvelines". |
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Mating for my future observations, next year and the following years. I hope I will find a caterpillar to confirm the species. |
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I have quite a few problems identifying this Zygaena. I have to choose between Zygaena minos/purpuralis and Zygaena brizae. The band 3-5 which does not widen clearly makes me think of this last species but I read that one of the criteria is also the fact that the end of the bands 3-5 and 2-4 is roughly aligned with the margin of the wing and this does not seem to me to be the case here. |
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I think this is the same specimen as before. I tried to look for species inventories for the area but found nothing systematic. The only species in the lot that I found listed as present in the area is Zygaena purpuralis. |
André Bon October 2024