The Aar­nescht does not only have a rich flo­ra but there are also many dif­fer­ent fau­na species to be found. Espe­cial­ly the semi arid grass­land offers a vital space for many pro­tect­ed and endan­gered ani­mal species.

Mammals

 

The fox, the deer, the rab­bit and the hare becom­ing more and more rare, are present on the Aarnescht.

 

The Eurasian Bad­ger is a very spe­cial inhab­i­tant of the pro­tect­ed zone. At day­time he is very shy, hid­ing in his den. He only comes out at night to look for food, eat­ing as well plants as small ani­mals. As he is hiber­nat­ing to stock thick fat lay­ers, you can see him very rarely in wintertime.

Birds

Among the 57 species that could be count­ed until now, there are 39 breed­ing species and 11 endan­gered species of the Red List as for exam­ple the Grey Par­tridge (Perdix perdix), the Red­backed Shrike (Lanius Col­lu­rio), the Great Grey Shrike (Lanius excu­bitor) and the Wood Lark (Lul­lu­la arborea), who is also very rare.

Red­backed Shrike Lanius collurio

Wood Lark Lul­lu­la arborea

Butterflies

The semi arid grass­lands are rich in flow­ers and offer per­fect con­di­tions to but­ter­flies. Until now 136 dif­fer­ent species had been reg­is­tered in the pro­tect­ed zone, among 35 of them are on the Red List of ende­nagered species. The most char­ac­ter­is­tic species on the Aar­nescht are: Cloud­ed Yel­low (Col­ias aus­tralis), Ere­bia medusa, Ado­nis Blue (Poly­omma­tus bel­largus), Nar­row­bor­dered Five-Spot Bur­net (Zygae­na lin­icer­ae), Swal­low­tail (Papilio machaon), Mead­ow Brown (Man­io­la jurtina).

Swal­low­tail / Papilio machaon

Mead­ow Brown / Man­io­la jurtina

Crickets and locusts

There are 22 dif­fer­ent species to be found on the Aar­nescht, among 9 are on the Red List. The most char­ac­ter­is­tic species of locusts of this semi arid grass­land is the Phaneroptera falcata.

True bugs

On the Aar­nescht there are 102 dif­fer­ent kinds of True bugs, among 18 are rare species. 2 species are the only ones find on nation­al ter­ri­to­ry: Brach­yarthrum lim­i­ta­tum and Dry­mus pumilio.

Spiders

 

48 dif­fer­ent spi­der species could be count­ed and among them some very remark­able ones: the Wasp spi­der (Argiope bru­enichi) or the Purseweb spider.