The geranium bronze

Geranium bronze, Cacyreus marshalli,

The geranium bronze is a recent addition to the butterflies of the Maltese islands. It is native to South Africa where it feeds on wild pelargonium geraniums (sardinell in Maltese) which also originate in South Africa. This species is often is often considered a pest because of the damage it causes to the cultivated pelargonium.

The South African butterfly was first recorded in the Balearic Islands in about 1987. It was feeding on cultivated pelargonium geraniums. From there it was introduced to Spain, France and Portugal. In 1997 it arrived in the UK. In Malta it was recorded for the first time in spring 2007.

Once it arrived in Europe it spread quickly in Mediterranean countries mainly because of the popularity of its food plant as well as because parts of South Africa have a Mediterranean climate. It thus found the right conditions to survive and expand its range.

At present it is restricted mainly to Mediterranean Europe but its range might expand further north as is happening with other species. Studies have shown that as a result of global warming and climate change, the range of several species of butterflies is moving north. At the same time some species are disappearing from their former range as the climate becomes too warm for them.

As butterflies disappear in one area new species appear in areas where they had not been recorded before. It is assumed that this is also happening with other insects such as moths, flies and bees, which are not as easy to record and monitor as butterflies.

On continental land masses this is a continuous process but on islands such as Malta insects might disappear because of these changes but new ones are added more slowly as potential invaders might find it difficult to cross the sea separating the Maltese islands from North Africa. 

The lappet moth family

Lappet Moth (Gastropacha quercifolia)

The lappet is a large moth that is found in all of Europe as well as in northern and eastern Asia. It belongs to a large family of about 2,000 species known as the eggars, snout moths or lappet moths. 

The family is characterised by having feather-shaped antennae, and an atrophied proboscis. The caterpillars are covered in short hair which is used as a defense mechanism as well as to build the cocoon in which they turn into a pupa. Four members of this family have been recorded in the Maltese islands.

The lappet is very common throughout the islands between May and June and from August to October. The caterpillar has decorative skin flaps on some of its legs hence the name lappet. 

It feeds on the leaves of fruit trees and is sometimes considered as a pest. When fully grown the caterpillar descends to the ground and builds a cocoon in which to pupate. The caterpillar is covered in short hair. This hair, together with silk which the caterpillar itself produces is used to build the cocoon.

Female lappet moths are larger than males. They produce a pheromone which smells of charcoal or burnt wood to attract males. When resting, lappet moths are very well camouflaged. They fold their wings in the shape of a tent to look like oak leaves hence its Maltese name werqa niexfa.

In the lappet, the snout, which is a characteristic of members of the snout family, resembles a petiole (the part of the leave attached to the twig or branch). This adds to the resemblance of the moth to a dried leaf and enhances its camouflage.

In the same family as the lappet we also find the oak eggar (baħrija tal-ballut) which is common especially at Buskett and its surroundings, the grass eggar (baħrija tas-silla) which is also common and the lackey moth (malacosoma) which has been recorded in Malta once in 1956. 

This article was published in The Times on 17.08.11

Moths on the Maltese islands

Moths are far more common than most people believe. They are not as familiar as the closely related butterflies because with the exception of a very small number they are nocturnal insects. They spend the day trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. They often settle on a surface with the same colour as their body, they place the antennae close to their body and keep their wings flat and close to the surface to avoid making a shadow.

Several hundred species of moths have been recorded from the Maltese islands. Some of which are endemic to Malta, that is they are found only on the Maltese islands. Some are very common while others have been seen only once or twice and more species will be added the list as this group of insects is still being studied by lepidopterists.

For many Maltese a moth is a baħrija but for others especially country people who learnt about nature from their parents, moths are known as farfett ta’ billejl (butterfly of the night) or just farfett. For them the baħrija is a hawk moth. 

Moreover the baħrija was associated with either good or evil. If a hawk moth entered a house it meant that somebody was about to die. 

There are several species of hawk moths in the Maltese islands but the one which was believed to be the portent of death was probably the humming bird hawk moth which is known in Maltese as ħabbara (messenger). This species is one of the few day-flying moths and often enters houses.

Many species of moths that are plant pests are known as susa a word that is more widely used for the woodworm (susa tal-injam). 

The caterpillar of these moths lives in the branches, leaves or fruit of plants and like the woodworm feeds on the plant inside which it lives. 

This article was published in The Times on 20.07.2011

Butterfly diversity peaks in June

Butterfly numbers and diversity reach their peak in June. After that month, the number of butterflies in the Maltese countryside start to decrease.

By now, many species have disappeared and will not be seen again, until next spring. At the moment the most common species and the one most likely to be seen is the small white butterfly which happens to be one of the most common butterflies during the rest of the year.

Another common species is the large white butterfly which looks very much like the small white but is usually much larger.

These two species are common because they feed on, among other things, on the leaves of wild and cultivated members of the cabbage family such as cauliflowers, kohlrabi and of course cabbages.

Up to 40 or 50 years ago in some villages in Malta children trapped these butterflies using the same methods that adults used to trap birds.

Their aim was not just to catch the butterflies.

They used to catch them by using very crude methods such as hitting them with a piece of cardboard while they were resting on a flower.

The trapping was a serious exercise which taught them the skills required, later in life, when they would start to trap birds.

In their play they copied adult bird trappers.

They prepared a trapping site by clearing it of vegetation, levelled the ground and removed all stones.

They then laid down two pieces of cloth on the ground. The cloth was attached to two thin sticks to which they attached a long piece of string.

When the string thread was pulled the sticks and cloth flipped onto to butterflies preventing them from escaping.

To make the site more authentic they even had a decoy butterfly attached to a stick by a thread. The stick could be moved up and down by means of a string to make the butterfly flutter as if it was flying. Some boys even had decoy butterflies tied to sticks stuck in the ground around their trapping site.

When caught the butterflies were placed in a carton box or tin can as trophies to be shown to their friends who had also been trapping butterflies.

The best trappers enjoyed a high status and would boast and brag about the number of butterflies they caught and recount stories about the ones that got away...

This article  was published in The Times on 03.08.2011

The oak eggar

The oak eggar is a beautiful large moth. It is seen in August and September mainly in Buskett and its surroundings. 

The males are red brown and fly during the day and many people mistake them for butterflies.

 Last Sunday, while watching the migration of raptors at Buskett I saw at least three oak eggars being caught and eaten by bee eaters, the brightly coloured migratory birds that specialise in hunting flying insects especially bees.

Female oak eggars are larger and paler than males and are nocturnal. It is said that females fly slowly at dusk dropping eggs on the vegetation below but I still have to see this interesting behaviour.

The eggs are laid on ivy which grows in abundance especially on the north-facing walls in Buskett. In Maltese the oak eggar is known as baħrija tal-ballut but it should be pointed out that despite its name, this species does not feed on oak, but is called so because its cocoon is shaped like an acorn.

The caterpillar is covered in brown hairs and has a black line between each segment on each of which there is a small tuft of white hair along the sides. I have seen and photographed the caterpillar on the leaves of the bramble at Wied il-Luq and also walking on the ground in the vicinity of this common plant.

The oak eggar belongs to the Lasiocampidae family of moths which has over 2000 species worldwide. These are usually large moths with feather-like antennae. The caterpillars are covered in long hair. Four species are found in the Maltese islands. 

This article was published in The Times on 22.0./2010

Butterflies need protection

Anthony Valletta was a keen lepidopterist. He spent most of his life collecting and studying butterflies and other insects and was one of the first people in Malta to talk and write about the need to protect Malta’s natural environment. He wrote a number of books for children and adults as well as articles in newspapers and magazines.

In 1980 he wrote an article about the butterflies of the Maltese islands and their dwindling habitats, in which he expressed concern about an alarming decrease in the number of individuals of certain butterflies which he was noticing. He wrote that complete colonies had disappeared from newly built up areas. He noted that in the 48 years during which he had been studying butterflies the colourful abundance of these beautiful insects had become a thing of the past. As is the situation today the most common butterflies were the migrants who every year augmented the local population.

Lately I have been talking a lot with Maltese farmers especially elderly ones who remember the countryside as it was sixty or seventy years ago and what all of them told me sadly reflects what Valletta wrote thirty years ago. Mr Valletta believed that the decline was being caused by the destruction of the butterflies’ habitats because of new residential areas. He also blamed the planting of ornamental trees along the sides of valleys which were replacing local flora. The farmers blame the large quantities of pesticides that they use for the decline.

I am not aware of any studies that have been carried out to monitor the butterfly decline and their causes. It is already late to save the butterflies but it is better late than never and we can if we want to, halt the decline and even to reverse the trend. We owe the butterflies to future generations of Maltese people. We also have a responsibility to conserve local races such as that of the swallowtail butterfly which is endemic to the Maltese islands.

Mr Valletta wrote that many of the natural habitats would continue to disappear but he hoped that those in a position to do so will encourage the preservation of all existing species by ensuring that the necessary food plants are not entirely eradicated from the countryside and in some cases that these would be deliberately propagated.

Unfortunately, many species that Mr Valletta once enjoyed have become a rarity and might soon become extinct from the Maltese islands unless urgent action is taken to save them.

This article was published in The Times on 18.August.2010)