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LEPIDOPTERA

Mellicta caucasogenita (Verity, 1930)
Mellicta caucasogenita (Verity, 1930)

• TYPE LOCALITY. «Helenendorf» [Hanlar, Azerbaijan].

• SYNONYM. caucasica Staudinger, 1871, nom. praeoccup.

• RANGE. Caucasus and NE. Turkey.

• DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. The nominotypical subspecies occurring in the Caucasus Major and Minor, and the Armenian Highland. Superficially (small size and dark colour), this represents a rather constant species.

• TAXONOMIC NOTES. M. caucasogenita is regarded as a distinct species due to its sympatry and synchrony with M. athalia in Armenia and the adjacent parts of NE. Turkey (Hesselbarth et al., 1995), where no transitional forms have been recorded. However, the situation in the N. Caucasus, where a superficially similar form, M. athalia lucifuga, seems to live, needs further studies.

• HABITATS AND BIOLOGY. Mountain meadows in the forest and subalpine belts at about 1,700-2,400 m a.s.l. Flight period: July to August.

• SIMILAR SPECIES. Mellicta diamina: UNS double marginal line darker; postdiscal orange fascia of UNH with dark dots. M. athalia: larger and brighter, UPH without dark suffusion (except for the ssp. lucifuga; there also seem to be slight differences in genitalic structure.

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