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LEPIDOPTERA

Clossiana hegemone (Staudinger, 1881)
Clossiana hegemone (Staudinger, 1881)

• TYPE LOCALITY. «Ala Tau» [Dzhungarsky Alatau Mts., Kazakhstan].

• RANGE. Tian-Shan, Ghissar-Darvaz, Pamirs-Alai (excluding W. Pamirs); Hindu Kush, Himalaya and ?Kun-Lun.

• DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. The Tian-Shan, except for the western part, is inhabited by the nominotypical subspecies (= darjana (Seitz, [1909]); = tianschanica Wagner, 1923). The W. Tian-Shan, the Ghissar-Darvaz and the Pamirs-Alai are populated by the ssp. houri (Wyatt, 1961), which is distinguishable from the nominotypical one by the FW more extended and apically pointed, and by the more intensive development of black marginal and submarginal spots of the UPS.

• TAXONOMIC NOTES. From Kun-Lun Mts., China, the taxon chotana O. Bang-Haas, 1915 has been described, subsequently recorded in the E. Pamirs by Tshikolovets (1997) as a subspecies of hegemone (Staudinger, 1881). However, the attribution of chotana to hegemone is questionable, while the occurrence in the E. Pamirs is unlikely.

• HABITATS AND BIOLOGY. Wet mountain meadows and creek valleys up to 4,200 m a.s.l. Flight period: June to August.

• SIMILAR SPECIES. Brenthis hecate: without mother-of-pearl spots on UNH. Boloria sipora: apex of HW sharpened; a black point in discal cell of UNH absent.

 

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