A wonderful place not only for butterflies

The Petaloúdes valley is a very scenic spot with a large population of butterflies. The spotted harlequin (Callimorpha quadripuncta) is a moth from the bear moth family. The moths reach a wingspan of 42 to 52 mm. They have black-blue fore wings with white or yellowish stripes. These form a distinctive V at the wing tips. The orange-colored hind wings have three to four black spots, but these can only be seen when he is flying. The individual butterfly is not very impressive, but when the animals are startled and stand up in the group, it looks very nice - like a red cloud.

Unfortunately, the number of butterflies has decreased rapidly in the past. The harlequin is a nocturnal animal and usually sleeps during the day. If the animals are not allowed to sleep in peace during the day, they lack their strength and mating is disturbed. Unlike other bear moths, they have a well-trained proboscis that enables them to suckle nectar from flowers. The harlequin butterfly in Petaloúdes is attracted and encouraged to reproduce due to the numerous resinous and vanilla-scented sweetgum trees. These elegant trees are becoming increasingly rare in the Mediterranean.

In autumn the butterflies fly out of the valley to lay their eggs. The caterpillars do not develop in the Petaloúdes valley. Therefore, the animals can only be found in the valley between the end of June and September. The caterpillars are about 50 mm long, they are black-grey and have a yellow back line. In addition, they have white spots on the sides and reddish-brown warts with short, light-colored bristles all over.