Melanargia galathea (Linnaeus, 1758)

Имаго (Melanargia galathea)

Taxonomy

class Insecta → subclass Pterygota → infraclass Neoptera → superorder Holometabola → order Lepidoptera → superfamily Papilionoidea → family Nymphalidae → subfamily Satyrinae → tribe Melanargiini → genus Melanargia → species Melanargia galathea

Species name(s)

Melanargia galathea (Linnaeus, 1758) = Papilio galathea Linnaeus, 1758 = Melanargia albibasa Lempke 1957 = Melanargia annae Kesseler 1945 = Melanargia brunneocosta Lempke 1957 = Melanargia brunissime Perrier 1935 = Melanargia caeca Lempke 1957 = Melanargia carolina Weber 1964 = Melanargia caronae Gallay 1947 = Melanargia craskei Tubbs 1978 = Melanargia dissiuncta Gussitsch 1917 = Melanargia emma Rocci 1930 = Agapetes essonsakaria Verity, 1953 = Melanargia grisescens Varin 1948 = Melanargia hades Reiss 1961 = Melanargia laetepicta Stauder 1922 = Melanargia lepigrei Betz 1948 = Agapetes leucogonia Collier, 1952 = Agapetes macronereus Verity, 1957 = Agapetes macrosciritis Verity, 1953 = Melanargia magnifica Stauder 1913 = Agapetes microsciritis Verity, 1953 = Satyrus nereine Verity, 1935 = Melanargia nigrescens Varin 1948 = Satyrus nigrionereus Verity, 1935 = Melanargia pedemontii Rocci 1930 = Agapetes pedenereus Verity, 1953 = Agapetes pedenereine Verity, 1953 = Melanargia planorum Rocci 1930 = Melanargia pura Niepelt 1914 = Melanargia quadriocellata Pionneau 1937 = Melanargia sibillyna Rocci 1930 = Melanargia sylvia Rocci 1930 = Agapetes tenebrogigas Verity, 1938 = Agapetes tenebronana Verity, 1938 = Melanargia valentini Williams 1951 = Melanargia vitrimontis Kesseler 1945. [9, 10, 187]

Marbled White.

urn:lsid:insecta.pro:taxonomy:8719

Expansion

This species marks on the maps: 4.

Zoogeographical regions

Palaearctic.

Russia regions

#1. Kaliningradsky*; #8. Evropeisky Tsentralny; #9. Evropeisky Tsentralno-Chernozyomny; #10. Sredne-Volzhsky; #11. Volgo-Donsky; #12. Nizhnevolzhsky; #13. Zapadno-Kavkazsky; #14. Vostochno-Kavkazsky; #17. Yuzhno-Uralsky.

* An asterisk denotes a region for which the species is listed as an migrant or information that requires additional checking.

Forewing length

26—28 mm.

Primary colors

Brown/Gray/Black, White.

Flight time

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Larva lifespan

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Over-wintering stage

Larva.

Самец и самка (Melanargia galathea)

Detailed information with references

Distribution

Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Denmark *, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Sicily, Slovakia, the Soviet Union - the European part of Turkey - European part of Finland France, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, Estonia, Yugoslavia. [1].
Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the British Isles, France, Germany, Greece (mainland), Denmark (mainland), Spain (mainland), Italy (mainland), Corsica, Latvia, Lithuania , Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Romania, Sicily, Slovakia, Slovenia,Turkey (European part), Ukraine, Finland, France (mainland), Croatia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, Estonia, Yugoslavia. [10].
Regions of the Russian Federation: the Volga-Don, East Caucasus, the European Central Black Earth, Central European, Western Caucasus, Kaliningrad (?), Lower Volga, Mid-Volzhsky, South Ural. [3].
Galatea ranges from Europe to Southern England. Missing in Denmark, southern Spain, Portugal, and France, as well as in Finland. It flies in North Africa and reaches Iran in the east. The only representative of the genus Melanargia that lives in Central Europe, southern Russia and the Caucasus. [85].

Imago Habitus and Differences from alike species

The length of the forewing is from 2.6 to 2.8 cm. On the upper side of the wings is a black-and-white chessboard-like pattern. Females have a lighter, yellowish underside of their wings, and are larger than males. On the underside of the wings of galatea there are spots — one on each front and a whole row on the back. Central Europe is hardly characterized by at least one species with a similar color, but in Southern Europe, North Africa and Asia Minor there are similar colored species. The view is very variable. North Africa is characterized by the subspecies lucasi Ramb, while the southern part of its range is characterized by procida Herbst, which has a reduced light wing pattern. [85].

General info about Imago

Melanargia galathea flies on dry slopes, clearings, forest roads, in hilly areas with limestone soils and in mountains at an altitude of up to 2000 m. It is active on hot days, especially at noon, flying, often sits on the flowers of the bark beetle. [85].

Imago lifespan

Adult years: end of June-August. [85].

General info about Larva

The caterpillar is green, with several light longitudinal stripes and sparse hairs, with a dark back and a reddish side stripe, a red head and red "tails"; it feeds exclusively at night, but during the day it hides in the grass and among roots. [85].

Larva food plants / other food objects

Gramineae. [28].
Личинки Melanargia galathea питаются на мягких злаках — тимофеевке (Phleum), в частности, тимофеевке луговой, бухарнике (Holcus), пырее, еже и других. [85].

Larva lifespan

Larvae life time: September-June. [85].

Pupa

The pupa is ovate, smooth, yellowish in color, and bears two raised dots on the sides of the body. [85].

Egg

Eggs are laid on leaves (and even scattered) without any attachment, which can cause them to fall to the ground. [85].

Overwintering stage

The caterpillar overwinters. [85].

Subspecies of Melanargia galathea

Melanargia galathea ahyoni Wagener, 1959. [187]
M. g. anticoma Fruhstorfer, 1916. [187]
M. g. bugacensis Kovacs, 1966. [187]
M. g. clarens Wagener, 1959. [187]
M. g. donsa Fruhstorfer, 1916. [9]
M. g. galathea. [9]
M. g. hengshanensis Wagener, 1959. [187]
M. g. lucasi (Rambur, 1858). [9]
M. g. niculescui Varin, 1963. [187]
M. g. njirdzhan Sheljuzhko, 1937. [187]
M. g. origo Higgins, 1977. [187]
M. g. paludosa Varin, 1949. [187]
M. g. satnia Fruhstorfer, 1917. [9]
M. g. tenebrosa Fruhstorfer, 1917. [9]
M. g. tornusdijuncta Verity, 1953. [187]
M. g. vocontia Varin, 1949. [187]
M. g. xantonica Varin, 1948. [187]

Authors

Initial species uploading to the site: Peter Khramov.

Photos: Vlad Proklov, Evgeny Glebov.

Text data: Peter Khramov.

The species characteristics formalization: Peter Khramov, Sergei Kotov.

References

[1] O. Karsholt, J. Razowski (eds.), 1996. The Lepidoptera of Europe: a distributional checklist
[3] Каталог чешуекрылых (Lepidoptera) России. Под ред. С. Ю. Синёва. СПб.; М.: Товарищество научных изданий КМК, 2008
[9] Tree of Life (funet.fi), 2012
[10] de Jong, Y.S.D.M. (ed.) (2011) Fauna Europaea version 2.4 (faunaeur.org)
[28] Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa (leps.it), 2012
[85] Lepidoptera species catalogue, Lepidoptera.ru, 2015
[187] Species 2000, http://www.sp2000.org