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LEPIDOPTERA

Melitaea (didyma) interrupta Kolenati, 1846
Melitaea (didyma) interrupta Kolenati, 1846

• TYPE LOCALITY. «In Caucaso et Transcaucasia».

• SYNONYMS. transcaucasica Turati, 1919; caucasi Verity, 1929, nom. praeoccup.; venosata Niesiolowsky, 1937; distinctissima Bryk, 1940; musatscherii Alberti, 1969.

• RANGE. From NE. Turkey across the Caucasus and Transcaucasia to Iran.

• DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. The Caucasus and Transcaucasia are populated by the nominotypical subspecies. Specimens from the Kopet-Dagh belong to the ssp. kendevana Gross et Ebert, 1975 (= maculata Gross et Ebert, 1975, nom. praeoccup.; = elbursicola Gross et Ebert, 1975; = safawides Gross et Ebert, 1975; = wernickei Gross et Ebert, 1975; = grossi Kocak, 1980).

• TAXONOMIC NOTES. As this taxon co-occurs together with M. (didyma) didyma in some localities, where they display numerous transitional forms, the status of interrupta is not so clear.

• HABITATS AND BIOLOGY. Mountain meadows at about 800-2,500 m a.s.l. Flight period: June to July.

• SIMILAR SPECIES. Melitaea didyma: on UNH, veins commonly without black scales. M. persea: on UNH, submarginal orange fascia split into separate spots, each of latter typically bordered proximally by a black lunule. M. enarea: aedeagus slightly curved.

 

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