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LEPIDOPTERA

Anthocharis cardamines cardamines (Linnaeus, 1758)

Anthocharis cardamines

• TYPE LOCALITY. Sweden.

• RANGE. The whole Palaearctic except for the extreme north and south.

• DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. Although a great number of forms and aberrations have been described, a generally gradual clinal variation pattern can be traced throughout the range, and the subspecies listed below show slight differences: ssp. cardamines (Linnaeus, 1758) - the European part, the Caucasus Major and Minor, the Armenian Highland, Talysh, W. Siberia; ssp. progressa (Sovinsky, 1905) (= sajana Rober, [1907]; = sibirica Haanshus, 1920) - Siberia, the Altai and Sayan mts., Transbaikalia; ssp. septentrionalis Wnukowsky, 1927 - the Far East; ssp. phoenissa von Kalchberg, 1894 - ?Kopet-Dagh; ssp. alexandra (Hemming, 1933) (= orientalis Rober, [1907], nom. praeoccup.) - Tian-Shan, Ghissar, S. Ghissar, Darvaz, Alai; ssp. koreana Matsumura, 1937 - the Amur and Ussuri regions; ssp. kobayashii Matsumura, 1925 - Sakhalin.

• HABITATS AND BIOLOGY. Various open habitats in the forest and forest-steppe zones up to 3,000 m a.s.1. in the mountains. Flight period: March-July depending on the latitude and altitude, always in a single generation. Host plants (Eckstein, 1913): Cruciferae (Cardamine, Turritis, Sisymbrium, Brassica campestris, etc.). Pupa hibernating.

• SIMILAR SPECIES. A. gruneri: smaller; FW fringes chequered; red apical spot bordered inwardly by black colour; in females UPF discal spot large with its margins diffused. A. damone (female): UNF apical area yellow. Euchloe ausonia (female): FW apex pointed, UPF discal streak merged with costal edge.

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