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is 24 mm long, brown with metallic golden spots, eclosing 10 0LJUDWLRQ
after 10-14 days, but possibly more in winter and less in
mid-summer. DB never observed diapause in any of its
metamorphosis stages.
3UHGDWRUV DQG 3DUDVLWRLGV The black-red-white warning
#
coloration of cardui adults possibly help them to reduce
pressure of avians and mammalians predators but not
against spiders (illustr. 3) and preying mantids. However
© Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini Cotesia vanessae (Braconidae) is the most common
larval parasitoid and together with Pteromalus puparum
21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 10 - A | 21-12-22 | 12:22:48 | SR:-- | Magenta
(Chalcididae) pupal parasitoid (illustr. 4) that are still “waking
21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 10 - A | 21-12-22 | 12:22:48 | SR:-- | Yellow
#21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 10 - A | 21-12-22 | 12:22:48 | SR:-- | Black
21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 10 - A | 21-12-22 | 12:22:48 | SR:-- | Cyan
up” in the first brood infect less than 5% of the swarm build-
up. This number is growing up quickly in later generations
where the toll of all parasitoids may reach 30% of the
population (Benyamini, 2017d). Other infacting parasitoids
that appeared in low frequencies in Israel are: Cotesia
vestalis, Diadegma oranginator & Hyposoter didimator (both
Ichneumonidae) det. Mark Shaw. Brachymeria femorata
© Dubi Benyamini © Ofir Tomer
(Kugler, 1966) and the Tachinid Sturmia bella (Eisenstein,
Pteromalus puparum parasitoids
1982).
4 4
5HFRUGHG KRVWSODQWV Wild and cultivated plants from
many families: Asteraceae - Arctotis spp. [C], Atractylis
comosa, Carduus argentatus, C. getulus [L], Carthamus
tenuis, Centaurea cineraria (= C. candidissima) [C], C.
crocodylium, Cirsium spp. [?], Cousinia hermonis, Cynara
syriaca, Echinops adenocaulos, E. philistaeus, E. polyceras,
E. spinosissimus, Filago contracta [?], Gundelia tournefortii,
Notobasis syriaca, Onopordum cynarocephalum, O.
© Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini
cyprium, Ptilostemon chamaepeuce, Scolymus hispanicus,
1 1 1 1 1 1 Silybum marianum; Malvaceae - Alcea rosea [C], A. setosa
[L], Gossypium hirsutum [C], Lavatera cretica, Malva
aegyptia, M. neglecta, M. nicaeensis, M. parviflora, M.
sylvestris; Boraginaceae - Arnebia linearifolia, Echium
angustifolium; Brassicaceae (Cruciferae) - Diplotaxis harra
[S]; Cucurbitaceae - Cucumis sativus var. [C], Lauraceae
- Persea americana var. [C]; Solanaceae - Solanum
melongena var. [C]; Urticaceae - Forsskaolea tenacissima,
Parietaria judaica [L], Urtica pilulifera, U. urens; Vitaceae -
Vitis vinifera [C]; Lamiaceae (Labiatae) - Ocimum basilicum
[C, L]; Plantaginaceae - Plantago albicans; Verbenaceae -
Verbena peruviana var. [C, L].
'LVWULEXWLRQ
TL: Sweden. A cosmopolitan species, found throughout
the Levant, its distribution ranging over all of Europe, Asia,
Australia, Africa and from N America to Mexico. Absent from
the Tropics and the rainforests. It has not become resident
in S America, although it penetrates there during migrations.
© Ori Mintzker
11
11 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
11
11
111
1
© Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini © Galit Moshe
152
Several major discoveries, activities and exceptional weather systems
in Arabia - East Mediterranean and North Africa highlighted the late
2010’s – early 2020’s placing cardui as world’s record migrant:
- The overwintering sites of European cardui in the Sub-Saharan Sahel
belt that was discovered by Talavera & Vila (2016) is equal to Urquart’s )LJ - Map of breeding records
historical discovery of the Monarch (Danaus plexippus) overwintering in
Mexico. However, political reasons and civil war prevented Talavera &
Vila to discover Levant's overwintering sites in S&E Egypt, N&E Sudan, E
Ethiopia, Somaliland & Arabia. In the short range of up to 300 km S of Eilat
DB knows that cardui exist in small numbers in every Oasis in the Sinai
Peninsula being their overwintering cite. In longer ranges southwards
we do not have sufficient data (in late 2021) of cardui overwintering in
Arabia, S Egypt and Sudan except sporadic records of Williams (1930)
further southward in East Africa and the detailed historical description )LJ - Mountly adults' distribution models
of Skertchly (and J. K. Lord) that on March 1869, near Suakin, S Port source: in Menchetti et al; 2019 (with permission).
Sudan, Red Sea W coast, witnessed mass emergence of a cardui swarm
(Skertchly, 1879). DB hopes that the cardui citizen science program 6
and better political environment will help in solving this question.
- The creation of huge cardui swarms in the Levant and Arabia following
exceptional weather systems: 1) Red Sea Trough (RST) tropical storms
2) Indian Ocean intensifying cyclons that hit southern Arabia and its vast
Rub al Khali Desert 3) Cross-African Jet stream that lower to surface in
subsidence process and convey the migrants to the Rift Valley. Each of
these synoptic weather systems causes local heavy rains and floods to
the southern and eastern vast Deserts where “trillions” of fast-growing
LHPs served as proven & documented bases of cardui build-up swarms 6
migrating to the Levant and beyond to Europe and West Asia (Benyamini,
2017d; Shalmon & Benyamini, 2019). A few figures will explain the
enormous size of this phenomenon: Two consecutive cyclones that
hit S Arabia in the end of 2018 brought over 600 mm of rain in just
24 hours resulting in countless supply of hostplants to gravid cardui
females. Their fast multiplication rate of three weeks (or less) for every
brood + up to 500 eggs laid by every female + many available species
of hostplants + high rate success of protected larvae to survive within
their concealed leaf-pods created the cardui “clouds” we witnessed in 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
the whole East Mediterranean in late March – early April 2019. Butterfly
counts by members of BMS Israel and DB resulted in huge numbers of
hundred thousands for one km and up to several billions per day for © Amir Givati
whole Israel. Let us calculate together three examples: 1) In Kibbutz
Lotan, S Arava, Israel, Shahar Cohen counted on 8 February 2019 7 7
between 11:30 and 12:00 AM 45 carduis every minute crossing a front
of 20 m. For 6 hours we get 45x(1000:20)X60X6= 810.000 butterflies
for every km front. 2) In Um-Zuka N Samarian Desert on 3 April 2019 © Uzi Avner
noon time Galit Moshe counted 79 carduis crossing a front of 5 meters
every minute. With similar calculation we get 5.688.000 millions for 6 8
hours per front of one km. 3) in Mt Gilboa NE Israel on 21 March 2019
Israel Pe’er and Noam Kirshenbaum counted in mid-day 150 butterflies
every 10 seconds crossing 10 m front. This is 32.4 millions for 6 hours
in every km and for whole Israel 6.4 billions. Indeed on the 21st of
March 2019 dense “clouds” of Painted Ladies crossed the sky of Tel
Aviv north-westwards and DB estimated their number to be about a © Dubi Benyamini
billion for the whole day (illustr. 5, possibly taken further north).
- The process of swarm build-up in S Israel was documented step by
step by DB, possibly for the first time in Winter 2015 – Spring 2016 and
presented in the 20th SEL congress in Podgora, Croatia (24-30.IV.2017)
as one solution for the missing link and Benyamini, 2017d:
1. First brood (F1) - establishing the base and initial step in Southern
Arava Rift Valley N Eilat/Aqaba (e.g. 75 km NNE of the Red Sea, Ka
a Saidin flat depression ~ 100 hectars on both sides of the Israeli –
Jordanian border) to Uvda Valley ~ 50 km N Red Sea with about 500
hectars, from the end of Oct. to the end of Dec. 2015;
1.1 – Meteorological combination of high jet stream at the troposphere
with active low Red Sea Trough over SE Mediterranean in autumn 2015
153