LEPIDOPTERA

• S A T Y R I D A E Boisduval, 1833

  • CHAZARA Moore, 1893

    
    

    • Chazara briseis (Linnaeus, 1764)

Chazara briseis (Linnaeus, 1764)

· TYPE LOCALITY. Germany.

· RANGE. From N. Africa across S. and Middle Europe, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Kazakhstan and Middle Asia to Afghanistan, NW. China and Tuva, Siberia.

· DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. A polymorphous species displaying a lot of geographical forms along with a constant colour form, pirata Esper, 1777. In our opinion, the following subspecies are real within the area concerned:

ssp. meridionalis (Staudinger, 1886) - the S. European part, W. Siberia, Saur and Tarbagatai, the Altai, S. Siberia;

ssp. magna Heyne, [1894] - N. Tian-Shan, Dzhungarsky Alatau;

ssp. armena Jachontov, 1911 - the Caucasus Major and Minor, the Armenian Highland;

ssp. hyrcana (Staudinger, 1886) - Kopet-Dagh;

ssp. fergana (Staudinger, 1886) (= maracandica Staudinger, 1886) - Ghissar, S. Ghissar, Darvaz, Alai, the W. Pamirs.

· HABITAT AND BIOLOGY. Widely distributed in steppe and other xerophytic grassy associations at 500-2,500 m a.s.l. Flight period: June-September. Larvae feeding on Sesleria, Festuca, Stipa, Poa (Eckstein, 1913; Nekrutenko, 1990; Hesselbarth et al., 1995). Larvae of different instars hibernating.

Photo and text: Guide to the BUTTERFLIES OF RUSSIA and adjacent territories Volume 1. PENSOFT, Sofia - Moscow. 1997