Identification of Melitea by genitals

here
http://www.eurobutterflies.com/species_pag...a-genitalia.htm
and then
http://www.orion-berlin.de/projekte/schmetter/tag/scheck.htm

Actually, Didyma's drawing is different. And atalia, aurelia, britomartis, menetrieu - that's all-yes, reliable only by genitals.

it seems a reliable sign for Athalia and Aurelia is the golden border of the rear wing, as, in general, the entire light background of the rear wings is golden.
In general, is there any other external clear sign that can easily distinguish between Atalia and Aurelia??
Where do britomartis and menetrieu fly?

Britomartis - temperate Eurasia, menetria-starting from western Siberia and further east. And yet, for all Meliteans, the definition is only based on the genitals. Do not forget that there are also subspecies within the species, for some (for example, M. menetriesi westsibirica) the difference in genitals from the nominative subspecies is postulated... The variability of the pattern in the same athalia / aurelia is very high.

Can I be more specific with AtaliaAurelia? And then I compared by Ace and didn't find anything special.. What signs are persistent?

M. aurelia - smaller and with a more yellowish underparts. And reliable - really only on the genitals... I can offer the book P. Gorbunov. The butterflies of Russia: classification, genitalia, keys for identification (2001)? There are distribution maps and drawings of genitalia for all day butterflies. Although to Moldova only the shipment will be 300 rubles, probably...

I have Aces

And Britomartis can be identified by external signs, otherwise it is written everywhere-a terribly rare animal. Is it available in the Ministry of Defense?

Males of aurelia, athalia, brithomartis (not hardened) are quite easy to distinguish, see the first reference above.

All of the above types differ well in appearance.
See the palps and underside of the hind wing-the marginal part.

Males of aurelia, athalia, brithomartis ( not hardened) are quite easy to distinguish, see the first link above.

In general, yes, you can determine fresh butterflies without dissecting them. Only the apical process of the valva does not work very well when separating our britomartis and aurelia. These species clearly differ in the length of gnathos branches - a sort of paired horns on the tegumen, which are practically not expressed in Aurelia.

This post was edited by PG18-02.08.2007 12: 43

All of the above types differ well in appearance.
See the palps and underside of the hind wing-the marginal part.

I doubt that it is possible to reliably divide the mentioned species according to these characteristics, especially taking into account the variability, individual and geographical.

Once upon a time I created this topic in the hope that together we will be able to find the distinctive causes of the insidious Mellicta genus. However, after working with this genus of distinguishing features, I did not find any. But I want to share the results of my hard work. As a result of the analysis of genitalia of more than 50 specimens, one new species of M. britomartis was found for Moldova (interestingly, only one specimen). I haven't yet learned how to identify females by their genitals, and besides, I haven't found any proper manuals with drawings of female genitals. Worked on Korshunov and Tuzov.
P.S. When considering a distinctive feature about the border color, I encountered the following key:
1) Hindwings with white or yellowish-white border below. The color almost does not differ from the holes located next to each other......................................M. athalia
2) Hindwings below with an orange border contrasting with adjacent holes.................................................................................M. Aurelia

However, I would not play with this feature at all, because what seems to be a contrast in some cases is not such and vice versa. So, for example, I met a lot of Aurelias, where I was, and there was no contrast. Atalii: there are only three specimens in the collections, all three holes are white, and the border is pronounced and even a little orange. Therefore, for these three European species from the subgenus Mellicta and in general for Melitae, the most accurate analysis of genitalia remains.
Later I will post the genitals of Athalia, britomartis and Aurelia.

This post was edited by Trofim - 09.07.2008 11: 47

At first I thought to put the genitals in the photo checkers. But I thought it would be more appropriate here.

Pictures:

M._athalia.jpg — (122.57к)


M._britomartis____________________.jpg — (53.07к)

While Aurelia's genitals are still not processed (not photoshopped), I'll also post them. But as can be seen from the drawings of harps and aedeagus in the complex, three types can be distinguished from each other.