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LEPIDOPTERA

Euphydryas (aurinia) aurinia (Rottemburg, 1775)
Euphydryas (aurinia) aurinia (Rottemburg, 1775)

• TYPE LOCALITY. Vicinity of Paris.

• SYNONYMS. artemis ([Denis et Schiffermuller], 1775), nom. praeoccup.; maturnci (Esper, [1777]), nom. praeoccup; lye (Bergstrasser, 1780); kolosvarensis (Piller et Mitterpacher, 1783); matutina (Becklin, 1791); dubia (Krulikowsky, 1891); obscurata (Krulikowsky, 1891).

• RANGE. Temperate belts of Europe and Siberia to Transbaikalia and Yakutia in the east, and to NW. China and Mongolia in the south.

• DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. The nominotypical subspecies (= estonia Petersen, 1902) inhabits the central European part and W. Siberia; the Carpathian Mts. are populated by the ssp. bulgarica (Fruhstorfer, 1916); the Altais, the Sayan, the mountains of Transbaikalia and central Siberia support the ssp. laeta (Christoph, 1893).

• TAXONOMIC NOTES. The taxonomy of the aurinia group appears quite complex and confused. Numerous authors sometimes consider the above taxa as forms, sometimes as separate species. We consider aurinia as a superspecies.

• HABITATS AND BIOLOGY. Dry meadows and/or steppe. In the mountains, up to the upper timber-line. Flight period: June to July. Egg-laying in groups of 5-30 on leaves. Host plants in central Russia (Dantchenko & Nikolaevsky, in press): Succisa pratensis; in Europe (Niculescu, 1965; Henriksen & Kreutzer, 1982; Ebert, 1991; Korshunov & Gorbunov, 1995): Scabiosa succica, Digitalis, Plantago, Veronica, Geranium, Sambucus, Gentiana, Valeriana, Lonicera, Spiraea, Viburnum, Succisa. Larvae living gregariously. Larval colonies weaving dense cocoons, feeding inside and nearby. Hibernation larval.

• SIMILAR SPECIES. Euphydryas provincialis: slightly larger; black marking of UPS even and delicate; ground colour UPS pale red-brown with a characteristic sandy tone. E. merope: smaller; black marking of UPS extended and heavy; ground colour UPS pale yellow or pale grey. E. asiatica: ground colour usually yellowish; HW with dense black suffusion along inner margin; black proximal margin of a broad, orange, submarginal fascia often absent. E. orientalis: slightly larger; black marking of UPS highly contrasting; ground colour of UPS paler; orange submarginal fascia broader, especially on HW. E. sibirica: prevalent tone of UPS orange-yellow; FW with a single terminal line making the marginal lunules larger.

 

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