cinnabar

The cinnabar moth (Tyria jacobaeae) is a striking day-flying moth in the family Erebidae, native to Europe and western Asia, and introduced to North America, Australia, and New Zealand as a biological control agent for ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris, formerly Senecio jacobaea). The adult moth has distinctive crimson-red hindwings and black forewings marked with red spots and streaks—a warning coloration signaling its toxicity to predators. The black and yellow striped caterpillars feed gregariously and conspicuously on ragwort, accumulating pyrrolizidine alkaloids that make both larvae and adults distasteful to most birds and mammals. The cinnabar moth has a strong association with rough grassland, heathland, railway embankments, and coastal habitats where ragwort grows abundantly. It is classified as Endangered in some European red lists due to dramatic declines resulting from the agricultural intensification that has reduced ragwort and other wildflowers from farmed landscapes, combined with the overzealous removal of ragwort from roadsides and meadows. In Britain and much of western Europe, the species has shown significant range contractions over the past fifty years. Conservation requires tolerance of ragwort in appropriate grassland settings and the maintenance of flower-rich, low-intensity habitats.