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LEPIDOPTERA

Melitaea diamina (Lang, 1789)
Melitaea diamina (Lang, 1789)

• TYPE LOCALITY. «Umaugsburg» [Germany].

• RANGE. From N. Spain across central and S. Europe, European part, Caucasus and S. Siberia to NE. China, S. Ussuri region, Korea and Japan.

• DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. A highly variable species very difficult to split into subspecies. As assumed by Higgins (1955), the vast area ranging from E. Europe to the Amur and Ussuri regions is inhabited by the ssp. hebe (Borkhausen, 1793) (= dictynna (Esper, 1777); = corythalia (Hubner, 1800); = orthia Hubner, 1818; = lebedeui Obraztsov, 1936). The status of both the ssp. erycina Lederer, 1853 and the ssp. erycinides Staudinger, 1892, described from the Altais and Kentei Mts., respectively, remains unclear as the eastern populations show all transitions toward the typical ssp. hebe. In the Caucasus Major, the ssp. badukensis Albert 1969 is known to occur.

• TAXONOMIC NOTES. The relations between all above forms require a profound revision as based on large material and biological evidence.

• HABITATS AND BIOLOGY. Damp meadows, forest edges and clearings in deciduous forest, in the mountains up to 2,000 m a.s.l. Flight period: June to July. Host plants (Korshunov & Gorbunov, 1995; Tolman, 1997): Valeriana, Plantago, Veronica, Melampyrum, Patrinia, Poiygonum. Egg-laying in small groups of 5-20. Instar 1 larvae live in a web nest where they hibernate. After wintering, they escape from the net and live solitarily. Hibernation larval (Kumakov & Korshunov, 1979).

• SIMILAR SPECIES. Melitaea protomedia: FW produced, marking of UPS clearer, ground colour more yellow, and dark suffusion less pronounced; black marking of UNF light; marking of UNH more uniform, discal and submarginal bands yellow. Mellicta britomartis: marking of UPS regular, HW less suffused with black; orange postdiscal fascia of UNH without dark spots, double marginal line generally not so dark: genitalia different.

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