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LEPIDOPTERA

Araschnia levana (Linnaeus, 1758)
Araschnia levana (Linnaeus, 1758)

• TYPE LOCALITY. «Europa australioris».

• RANGE. Temperate forest belt of Europe and Asia.

• DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. The European part, the Caucasus Major, Siberia, Transbaikalia, the Far East, the N. Tian-Shan and the Dzhungarsky Alatau Mts. are populated by the nominotypical form. The ssp. wladimiri Kardakov, 1928 (= separata Kardakov, 1928) inhabits the Amur and Ussuri regions, and the ssp. sachalinensis Shirozu, 1952 the Sakhalin Island. Two seasonal forms. The summer form strongly differs from the spring one and, in the nominotypical subspecies, it has been referred to as prorsa Linnaeus, 1758, in the eastern subspecies as borgesti Kardakov, 1928.

• HABITATS AND BIOLOGY. Occurring on the outskirts of woods and near banks of creeks in the forest zone, also in parks and gardens. Flight period: May to June and July to August, in two generations. Host plant: Urtica dioica. Eggs laid in garlands on the underside of leaves. Hibernation pupal.

•SIMILAR SPECIES. Araschnia bwejana: bands on UNS broader and somewhat different in position.

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