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LEPIDOPTERA

Melitaea arduinna (Esper, [1784])
Melitaea arduinna (Esper, [1784])

• TYPE LOCALITY. «...in einer Gegend der Wolga, bei Kamischenka». [Kamyshin, Volgograd Region, Russia].

• RANGE. From W. Europe across Asia Minor to Central Asia and the Altais.

• DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. The nominotypical subspecies inhabits the S. European part. the Caucasus Major, W. Siberia, the Altais, the Alai, the N. Tian-Shan, the Dzhungarsky Alatau, Tarbagatai and Saur mts. Darker specimens from the S. Urals have been described as the ssp. walensis Eversmann, 1844, but such coloured individuals occur in all populations. Material from Transcaucasia seems to be close to the ssp. kocaki Wagener et Gross, 1976. The W. Tian-Shan populations are distinguished by a delicate black marking on the UPS. In the Kopet-Dagh, the Ghissar-Darvaz and the W. Pamirs, the ssp. euanescens Staudinger, 1886 (= fulminans Staudinger, 1886) is known to occur.

• HABITATS AND BIOLOGY. Ecologically, very similar to M. cinxia but preferring bottomland meadows. Flight period: end of May to August, sometimes in two generations. Host plant in Transcaucasia and probably in Middle Asia (Dantchenko, in press): Centaurea behen. Hibernation as instar 3 larvae in a web nest on the host plant.

• SIMILAR SPECIES. Melitaea phoebe, M. psedosibina, M. sibina: submarginal fascia of UPH without black spots. M. avinoui: smaller; yellowish spots of FW developed into a fascia.

Photo and text: Guide to the BUTTERFLIES OF RUSSIA and adjacent territories Volume 2. PENSOFT, Sofia - Moscow. 2000