LEPIDOPTERA

• S A T Y R I D A E Boisduval, 1833

  • EREBIA Dalman, 1816

    
    

    • Erebia ligea (Linnaeus, 1758)

Erebia ligea (Linnaeus, 1758)

· TYPE LOCALITY. Sweden.

· RANGE. The forest zone of the entire Palaearctic Region.

· DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. Butterflies from the extreme parts of such a vast distribution area are rather different, but no clear borders can be delimited in a clinal west-east variation gradient. Much stronger differences are found between the northern and southern populations. Therefore, in our opinion, the following subspecies are valid. In the N. European part (the Khibiny Mts.) - ssp. dovrensis Strand, 1902; further to the south and southeast up to East Siberia - the nominate subspecies. The forest-steppe zone of the S. European part, the Urals and W. Siberia is populated by the ssp. kamensis Krulikovsky, 1909 (= uralensisSheljuzhko, 1925, nom. praeoccup.). From S. Siberia, the ssp. ajanensis Menetries, 1857 (=? kosterini P. Gorbunov, Korshunov et Dubatolov, 1995) has been described (TL: "Ajan" [S. Siberia]), very similar to which are specimens from Transbaikalia. From the Far East, the ssp. arsenjevi Kurentzov, 1950, and from Sakhalin the ssp. takanonis Matsumura, 1909 (= sachalinensisMatsumura, 1928), are known; the status of the last taxon is still unclear.

· HABITAT AND BIOLOGY. A common species of humid meadows, openings and clearings in the forest zone up to 2,000 m a.s.l. in the mountains. Flight period: June-July. In the middle latitudes, most populations usually have a two-year life cycle. Host plants in Europe (Henriksen, Kreutzer, 1982): various grasses, viz. Digitaria, Milium, Calamagrostis, Panicum, Deschampsia, Poa, Carex, etc.

· SIMILAR SPECIES. E. euryale: smaller; UPS ocelli always blind and often reduced to small dots; male FW without androconial area. E. jeniseiensis: much smaller; UPS ocelli well developed but always blind. E. arctica: much smaller; UPS red-brown bands reduced and always without ocelli. E. neriene: UPF and UPH bands lighter and differ in colour; UNH with a conspicuous postdiscal band. E. niphonica: UPF band bright ochreous, UPH band absent.

Photo and text: Guide to the BUTTERFLIES OF RUSSIA and adjacent territories Volume 1. PENSOFT, Sofia - Moscow. 1997