LEPIDOPTERA

• N Y M P H A L I D A E Swainson, 1827

  • MELITAEA Fabricius, 1807

    
    

    • Melitaea turanica Erschoff, 1874

Melitaea turanica Erschoff, 1874

• TYPE LOCALITY. Tajikistan, Darvaz, Petr I Mts., Ganishou loc., 1,900 m». A neotype designated herewith (see below).

• SYNONYMS pamira Staudinger. 1887: exnressa Grum-Grshimailo. 1887.

• RANGE. Darvaz.

• TAXONOMIC NOTES. Erschoff described his turanica as based on a single specimen (holotype) deriving from the vicinity of Samarkand, yet the original description and picture were very poor. As noted by Grum-Grshimailo (1890), a wrong type locality was involved, the true one most probably lying on the southern slope of the W. Alai Mts. For this reason, Staudinger described his pamira, and Grum-Grshimailo his expressa, in fact synonyms. Higgins (1941) noted that turanica inhabits the Ghissar-Alai and the Darvaz. As we currently know, however, turanica lives in the Darvaz alone, while the Ghissar and the Alai support a similar species, sultanensis Staudinger, 1886. As the types of turanica are presumably lost, we designate a neotype from the collection of the State Darwin Museum in Moscow with next labels: Tajikistan, Darvaz, Peter I Mts., Ganishou, 1,900 m a.s.l., 7.07.1980, leg. G. Samodurov.

• HABITATS AND BIOLOGY. Wet mountain meadows at about 2,000-2,500 m a.s.l. Flight period: July. Host plant (Shchetkin, 1981): Rhodiola.

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