''Euplagia quadripunctaria'', the Jersey tiger, or Spanish flag, is a diurnal

moth Moths are a group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not Butterfly, butterflies. They were previously classified as suborder Heterocera, but the group is Paraphyly, paraphyletic with respect to butterflies (s ...

of the family

Erebidae The Erebidae are a family (biology), family of moths in the superfamily Noctuoidea. The family is among the largest families of moths by species count and contains a wide variety of well-known macromoth groups. The family includes the underwin ...

. The species was first described by Nikolaus Poda von Neuhaus in 1761. The adult

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the opposite wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingsp ...

is , and they fly from July to September, depending on the location. Skinner, Bernard. (1984). '' The Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles (Macrolepidoptera)''. Viking (Penguin Books), London: They tend to fly close to ''

Eupatorium cannabinum ''Eupatorium cannabinum'', commonly known as hemp-agrimony, or holy rope, is a herbaceous plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a robust Perennial plant, perennial native to Europe, NW. Africa, Turkey, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, the Caucasus and ...

''. The larvae (

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

s) are polyphagous, feeding from September to May on nettles (''

Urtica ''Urtica'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Urticaceae. Many species have stinging hairs and may be called nettles or stinging nettles (the latter name applying particularly to ''Urtica dioica, U. dioica''). The generic name ''Urtica' ...

''), raspberries (''

Rubus ''Rubus'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae, most commonly known as brambles. Fruits of various species are known as raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, and bristleberries. ...

''),Kirby, W. F. (1903). ''The Butterflies and Moths of Europe''. Cassell & Co. Ltd., London: 432 pp. dandelion (''

Taraxacum ''Taraxacum'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus has a near-cosmopolitan distribu ...

''), white deadnettle (''

Lamium ''Lamium'' (dead-nettles) is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae, of which it is the type genus. They are all herbaceous plants native to Eurasia and northern Africa, with several widely naturalised across muc ...

''), ground ivy ('' Glechoma''), groundsel (''

Senecio ''Senecio'' is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family (Asteraceae) that includes ragworts and groundsels. Variously circumscribed taxonomically, the genus ''Senecio'' is one of the largest genera of flowering plants. Description Mo ...

''), plantain (''

Plantago ''Plantago'' is a genus of about 200 species of flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae, commonly called plantains or fleaworts. The common name plantain is shared with the unrelated cooking plantain. Most are herbaceous plants, though a ...

''), borage ('' Borago''), lettuce ('' Lactuca''),South, R. (1920). ''The Moths of the British Isles''. (Series 1, Second edition), Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd., London: 359 pp. and hemp-agrimony ('' Eupratoria''). The insect overwinters as a small larva. Large groups of adults of subspecies ''E. q. rhodosensis'' can be found on occasion aestivating (sheltering from the summer heat) in Petaloudes, on

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

, in a place that has become known as the Valley of the Butterflies.Heath, J. & Maitland, Emmet A. (1985). ''The Moths and Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland''. Vol.2, Harley Books Ltd., Colchester:

Distribution

''Euplagia quadripunctaria'' is widely distributed in Europe from

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

and

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

in the north to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

coast and islands in the south. It is also found in western

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, the southern

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

and nearby islands, the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

, southern

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan is a landlocked country in Central Asia bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest and the Caspian Sea to the west. Ash ...

, and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. Individuals are known to migrate northwards from their regular breeding grounds during the summer.

British Isles

Aside from being frequent in the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

(whence its common name comes), this species was rarely seen in the British Isles in Victorian times. It was described by William Forsell Kirby as, "a great rarity in the South of England, except one locality in Devonshire." Since then however it has spread more widely in Devon and Cornwall, and has recently been seen more frequently in southern England, especially on the Isle of Wight, in northern Kent, and south London. They have been seen regularly and in numbers every year in London first discovered at Devonshire Road Nature Reserve in Forest Hill since 2004, so it is probable that they have established a breeding colony.Jersey tigers on UK Safari page
/ref> Mothrecording.org shows a string of connected sightings on the South Kent coast from Dover to Rye in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. These are disconnected from the block of sightings in South-West England and so probably came from the Continent directly.

Subspecies

*''Euplagia quadripunctaria quadripunctaria'' (Europe, Caucasus, Transcaucasus, northern Anatolia, northern Iran, southern Turkmenistan) *''Euplagia quadripunctaria fulgida'' (South Turkey, Syria, Lebanon) *''Euplagia quadripunctaria rhodosensis'' (Western Turkey and neighboring islands of Greece)

Conservation

This is the only lepidopteran which has been designated as a 'priority species' under Annex II of the Habitats Directive in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, as of 1992, which means areas in which it occurs can be declared

Special Areas of Conservation A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and ap ...

References

External links