See also - List of Moths of Cyprus you will find in this blog (Lepidoptera)
Ocnogyna loewii is a moth of the Arctiidae family. It was described by Zeller in 1846. It is found in Asia Minor, Near East, Armenia, Azerbaijan,Daghestan, southern Uzbekistan, south-western Tajikistan, northern Iran and Afghanistan.
The wingspan is 27–28 mm. Adults are on wing from March to May.
The larvae feed Achillea, Chrysanthemum, Cirsium, Onopordum and Trifolium species.From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Photos Nicosia by George Konstantinou
Do these larvae have irritating hairs like the processionaries? I ask because in early March 2008 I was on a flower walk with some resident botanists in N Cyprus who called these larvae processionary moth(!) when we found a cluster on the ground. They then promptly stamped on them all in the belief they were the same species as Pine Processionary found in the tops of the pines! From my photo (and their terrestrial habit) I'm sure they must have actually been Ocnogyna loewii.
ReplyDeletePS Glad I came across your web page as I had been puzzled by this for.... 8 years!
DeleteHow sad to kill them, they are not harmful, and feed many birds, the processionary ones destroy the pine trees when you see the big web type nests they live in contact the authorities to dispose of them do notharm the ground caterpillars!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe processionary type also come to ground and very dangerous. It is not so easy to tell good caterpillars from the bad. They killed my dog.
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