Insect of the year 2023: The map has different colors in summer than in spring

Created: 06.12.2022, 16:00

By: Ines Alms

Depending on when it hatched, the map flutters from flower to flower in an orange or black robe.

Nettles lure the butterfly into the garden.

The underside of its wings gave the map its name - the strongly veined drawing is reminiscent of rivers and national borders.

Now the butterfly has been voted insect of the year 2023.

If you want to admire the animal in your own garden, you can attract it with stinging nettles and different forage plants, depending on the season.

Insect of the year 2023: The map comes in two colors

Seen?

The spring generation of the map wears orange.

© imagebroker/Imago

Anyone who sees the maple leaf (Araschnia levana) in spring will most likely take it for a different species than the summer generation, as the two differ so greatly in appearance: the butterfly, which hatches from mid-April, is bright brown-orange in colour.

From the beginning of July there is a black generation with white bands and yellowish spots.

According to

, the duration of daylight during the pupal period and the temperature have an influence on the two colorations.

If the pupa gets less daylight in winter, an orange-brown moth develops, thanks to longer days in summer a black one.

However, the reasons or advantages of these two color variants have not yet been clarified.

The map needs stinging nettles to lay eggs

Even if the species is not threatened, it has become significantly rarer regionally for a good ten years.

"It's obviously too warm and too dry for her," explains Werner Schulze from the "Insect of the Year" board of trustees.

Climate change is causing problems for the butterfly and it is more likely to spread to Scandinavia and higher mountainous areas.

But you can still find the map with us, its habitat are damp fields with stinging nettles in light forests, on the edges of forests, moors and structurally rich cultural landscapes.

From the beginning of July to the end of August, the map wears the black costume.

©Panthermedia/Imago

If you want to offer the butterflies food plants in the garden, you should leave room for nature and wildflowers.

The two moth generations prefer different plants:

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• The orange summer generation: Chickweed, buttercups, marsh marigolds, sloe or hawthorn bushes

• The black summer generation: cow parsley, angelica, wild carrot and other white umbellifers, horse thistle, water daisy, goldenrod 

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In addition, nettles should be left in partially shaded locations for both butterfly variants.

The females lay their eggs in a tower on the underside of their leaves.

It is also important that there are nectar plants nearby, since the maps do not fly far.