Five-spot Burnet
Zygaena trifolii
This moth can synthesize its own hydrogen cyanide and also store toxins from its food plants, making it incredibly distasteful to birds.
- Scientific name
- Zygaena trifolii
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Arthropoda › Insecta › Lepidoptera › Zygaenidae › Zygaena
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- decreasing
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Damp meadows, pastures, marshes, and chalk downs
- Diet
- Larvae feed on Bird's-foot Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus); adults drink nectar from wild flowers like knapweed and scabious.
- Range
- Europe, North Africa
- Size
- Wingspan of 28 to 38 mm
- Lifespan
- 1 year (with adults living only 2 to 4 weeks)
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Habitat loss due to intensive agriculture, overgrazing, and urban development.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless to observe. This moth is highly toxic if ingested as it contains hydrogen cyanide. Safe to watch from any distance. Do not handle, and wash hands thoroughly if accidental contact occurs.
Zygaena trifolii , the five-spot burnet , is a moth in the family Zygaenidae. It is found from North Africa, through the western Mediterranean, Great Britain and central Europe to Ukraine. It is not found in Scandinavia.
Photo: Céline, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
Plain-text version: /species/da939268-d5c0-4f81-8f47-64872be4e2ad.md