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LEPIDOPTERA

Polygonia egea (Cramer, [1775])
Polygonia egea (Cramer, [1775])

• TYPE LOCALITY. «Constantinopel», «Smirna».

•SYNONYMS: vau-album (Esper, [1780]); vau-album (Borkhausen, 1788); I-album (Esper, [1789]); L-album (Hubner. 1791); triangulum (Fabricius, 1793); f-album (Fabricius, 1793); J-album (Esper, 1793), etc., see below.

• RANGE. From S. Europe across Asia Minor to Afghanistan and Central Asia.

•DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. The nominotypical form (= balucha Evans. 1932) flying in Transcaucasia and the Kopet-Dagh. The Ghissar-Darvaz, the Pamirs-Alai and the Tian-Shan (excluding Dzhungarsky Alatau) are populated by the ssp. undi-na Grum-Grshimailo, 1890. The autumnal form has a name of its own, autumnalis Stefen, 1873 (= pallida Evans, 1932, nom. praeoccup.).

•TAXONOMIC NOTES. During a long time, this butterfly was confused with Nymphalis l-album, especially its earlier illustrations. The clear differences between the summer and autumnal forms also added to the confusion. This problem has been discussed in due detail (Kocak, 1980, 1981).

•HABITATS AND BIOLOGY. Gorges and slopes up to 2,500 m a.s.l. Flight period: March to October, in two generations. Host plants in Turkey (Hesselbarth et al., 1995): Parietaria, Urtica; in the Transcaucasia (Dantchenko, in press): Parietaria dijfusa.

• SIMILAR SPECIES. Polygoma l-album; black basal spot on UPH well-developed, as a rule. P. interposita: black marking extended; cuts of wings rounded.

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