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Hipparchia cypriensis    olik, 1949                           Cyprus Grayling



                    0\ ÀUVW YLVLW WR &\SUXV LQ -XO\      ZDV RQ ERDUG 'DNRWD '&    puddling near water streams, wherefrom a few females
                    that landed in Nicosia for a short stop-over between Haifa   were taken for breeding. Caged females in Alethrico, SL near
                    and Athens. During refuelling and cooling the engines I could   Larnaca, Cyprus S coast started to lay eggs at noon time on
                    see the Troodos peaks at the south and dreamed to visit it.   mesh walls and dry grass blades between 17-23 September
                    Seventeen years elapsed before it came true in my second         2QO\ ÀYH HJJV ZHUH ODLG LQ WKH ÀUVW GD\ EXW ´  VXGGHQ
                    touristic/sportive summer visit; In Larnaka I hired a 650 CC   HJJ OD\LQJ  LQWHQVLÀHG WR WHQV SHU GD\  PD\ EH GXH WR GURS
                    powerful motorcycle to ride the mountains to Platres and the   in night temperature with dew formation in the morning.”
                    &HGDU IRUHVWV  ,W ZDV P\ ÀUVW DFTXDLQWDQFH ZLWK WKH &\SULRW   (Aristos Aristophanous mail to DB on 24 September 2012).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  7
                    Grayling endemic - H. cypriensis; in every stop in the Troodos   A year later in Beit Arye 350 m C Israel egg laying proceeded
                    mountains “clouds” of hundreds brown large satyrids in   until 12 October 2013. Fresh white, barrel shaped eggs are         © Marios Aristodolos  © Marios Aristodolos                                  © Marios Aristodolos
                    communal roosting were common everywhere; under bushes   0.7-0.8 mm wide and 0.8-0.9 mm high, with 24-28 vertical
                    and in the forest – no doubt, the most common species  in the   ribs (50% of eight measured eggs had 28 ribs). Consuming
                    whole island (Benyamini, 1992b). Similar in appearance to   part of the eggshell 2 mm long L1 hatched after 5-6 days.
                    Hipparchia pellucida, but with a much smaller sex-brand and   Seven brown or reddish-brown longitudinal lines over a
                    hindwing underside a pale grey. Adults eclose at the end of   light pinkish-brown body and head that darken backwards
                    March and early April at lowlands and later upwards to ~ 500   with yellow spots near the spiracles, short hairs and tiny
                    m or more. Soon after they start mating: “...I found mating   IRUNHG WDLO /  VWDUWHG D VKRUW GLDSDXVH XQWLO WKH ÀUVW UDLQV
                    Hipparchia cypriensis often in April and May at the lowlands.   and the following growth of young seedlings of its Poaceae
                    During the summer, on Troodos, the females are commoner,   KRVW  SODQWV     LWV  ÀUVW  SUHIHUUHG  IRRG   *URZLQJ  RXWGRRUV  LQ
                    but males are not rare. I have only one observation of mating   Beit Arye (350 m, C Israel) in a large breeding cage it used
                    in summer – autumn; on 8 October 2009 I took a photo of   three hostplants:  Piptatherum miliaceum,  Poa annua and
                    a mating pair at 1100m“ – illustr., the GPS location is 1.6   Brachypodium sylvaticum.
                    km SE of Pano Panagia village, located in a vineyard, only   On 28 October 2013 twenty 2 mm long motionless L1 were                                               © Walfgang Wagner                     © Walfgang Wagner
                    100 m from natural Mediterranean maquis and 25 km NE   observed on dry grasses. On 7 December 2013, 5-10 mm
                    of the coastal Mediterranean city of Paphos (Makris, pers.   long L2/L3 light brown with brown strips were observed
                    comm. to DB). One more autumn mating was recorded “At   on green seedlings of grasses. On 28 December 2013 the
                    Platres, on 6 October 1974, I disturbed 2 Graylings in cop..”   largest larva attained 15 mm length. On 27 January 2014,
                     5RE 3DUNHU SHUV  FRPP  WR '%   3RVVLEO\ ÀUVW WR UHFRUG WKH   10-22 mm long L3/L4. On 21 February 2014, 16-25 mm
                    Cyprus Grayling seasonal, early summer up-hill migration in   long L4/L5 light brown with mid-dorsal dark brown strip
                    May-June, near Kannaviou Reservoir’s dam was a French   and sub-dorsal lines of different shades of brown, six brown
                    engineer, working in building the dam (EJ pers. comm.). It   lines proceed to the forehead and lower side thin black
                    congregates in large numbers in forested areas above ca   strip sections and on 2 March 2014 fully grown L5 were
                    1000 m in summer, from which areas it is readily disturbed   25-27 mm long. The larvae at all stages were nocturnal and
                    from a light aestivation among pine trees. A known mud &   hiding during day at bottom of the grass, but on 2 March
                    dung puddler, taking sap / resins on trunks of pine trees   2014 at noon time three L5 were observed feeding on
                    H. cypriensis disperses in summer to sources of water up   green blades of Piptatherum LHP – illusrt.. Seven L5 were
                    to hundreds of metres away from its aestivation sites. In   isolated in a box with a grit bottom and started to pupate
                    early autumn, H.  cypriensis has been observed returning   below surface between 12-17 March 2014. Using silk, a
                    to egg-laying sites at lowland areas up to 60 km away and   ÁH[LEOH VXEWHUUDQHDQ FKDPEHU FRDWHG ZLWK VRLO SDUWLFOHV ZDV                            © Dubi Benyamini                                     © Wolfgang Ekweiler
                    QHFWDULQJ  RQ  LWV  SUHIHUUHG  \HOORZ ÁRZHUHG  Inula viscosa   prepared, with a side hole for the emerging adult. But where
                    (Asteraceae) (John & Parker, 2002). Such dispersals from   burrowing is not possible, the pupa is formed on the surface,
                    breeding areas to summer aestivation sites or backwards   beneath litter. The pupa is formed ventral side up, 18 mm
                    are known in Hipparcia semele (Kudrna (1974) in S Spain   long and 7 mm wide, light brown, wing cases and thorax
                    and Feltwell (1976) in S France), H. senthes (Kocak (1986   smooth turning dark brown before eclosion. Males hatched
                    and in Hesselbarth et al., 1995(2): 902) in Kayaliyatak, W   ÀUVW RQ       $SULO DQG IHPDOHV IROORZHG LPPHGLDWHO\ RQ
                    Ankara, Turkey),  Coutsis in Hydra Isl., Greece (pers. comm.   April 2014 both genders after pupal period of 5 weeks.
                    to DB) & DB in Hatay, S Turkey (pers. obs.). Its complete life
                    KLVWRU\ LV GHVFULEHG KHUH IRU WKH ÀUVW WLPH        5HFRUGHG KRVWSODQWV  Poaceae (Gramineae) spp. it always
                                                                       preferred Piptatherum spp. in its breeding labs in Cyprus and
                                                                       Israel, but used also Poa annua (illustr.) and Brachypodium
                    %LRORJ\                                            sylvaticum.

                    )OLJKW SHULRG  March to November with mid-summer partial
                    aestivation over  ~1000 m in the Troodos mountains.   'LVWULEXWLRQ

                    /LIH KLVWRU\  “The authors welcome further information on   TL: Not stated in Cyprus. An endemic species to Cyprus
                    the life-history of  Hipparchia cypriensis..” John & Parker’s   (formerly listed as  Hipparchia pellucida ssp.  cypriensis,
                    (2002) last line in their summary and I am happy to comply:   but raised to species rank by Kudrna (1986)). Distributed
                    Certainly univoltine. In mid Septembers 2012 and again   in all the island from sl to the Troodos peak, practically not
                    in 2013 only a few gravid females remained in the upper   recorded in the Mesaoria plains in N. C. Cyprus.
                    Troodos Mt near Trooditissa, 1500 m but they were very
                    common in lower altitudes at Platania picnic area near
                    Kakopetria 1100-1200 m always on Pine trunks or mud                                                                                                                                                    © Cristodoulos Makris


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           2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd   100                                            12/30/2021   4:24:49 PM  2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd   109                                   12/30/2021   4:25:17 PM
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