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Satyrus makmal Higgins, 1965 Levantine Sooty Satyr 8 Satyrus favonius Staudinger, 1892 Anatolian Satyr

A high altitude species that flies vigorously along cliffs, slopes A very rare species in the Levant, known from a few
and mountain tops. Its fluttering flight is unique and is easily recorded from S Turkey in “Eibes” (Akbes), Hatay province
recognizable. Larsen (1974: 136-137) described it precisely in 1889, and “near Gaziantep” in Gaziantep province
as; “tirelessly patrolling…steep hillsides…very difficult to catch (1944 & 1950) (Hesselbarth et al., 1995(2): 888). Local
#
in spite of seemingly relaxed and effortless flight”. Males are species, adults fly in rocky and dry gorges and ravines.
often seen patrolling, but there is no evidence of territorial
behaviour as no typical interception flights were observed. In
the lab a courting male approached a female flipping its wings %LRORJ\
DGXOW
5 6 7

5
91
10
4
1
3

2
slowly, he hugged her from behind leaving androconial scales 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 DGXOW 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
12
1
HJJ
HJJ
21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 8 - A | 22-01-02 | 12:34:18 | SR:-- | Magenta
lar v a
0
1
9
8
7
21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 8 - A | 22-01-02 | 12:34:18 | SR:-- | Yellow
1
with pheromones, then approached her head to head and DGXOW 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 )OLJKW SHULRG the Gaziantep records were between July lar v a
HJJ
#21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 8 - A | 22-01-02 | 12:34:18 | SR:-- | Black
pupa
pupa
21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 8 - A | 22-01-02 | 12:34:18 | SR:-- | Cyan
lar v a
pupa
finally aligned along her body for mating. This was too much and September. Elsewhere known to fly from mid-June
for the female that flipped her wings rapidly, falling to the grass till September from 600 m to 3000 m.
below to later proceed laying eggs. But the male did not give up
and tried again to mate with her while she was laying eggs. In /LIH KLVWRU\ The egg is pale-grey, relatively large, barrel-
the evening the adults hided in the grass 15-20 cm above soil shape with flat top with 15 bumps. The larva hatches
for their overnight sleep (DB breeding notes). Males puddle, after 3 weeks, it is pale brown-yellow. L1 molts after 2
both genders sip nectar from flowers of Centaurea iberica and weeks, fully grown L2 is 9.5 mm long. L3 is grey with dark
Cousinia hermonis. strips. Winter diapause takes place in L2 or L3. The larvae
The male is black with one submarginal eyespot, rarely a second commence feeding the following spring. Pupation takes
on the forewing. The female upper-side is brighter brown and place underground with the pupa in upright position, it
its underside a unique yellow – white – brown markings for is 15 mm long and reddish-yellow. (Hesselbarth et al.,
camouflage among dry grasses; fw yellow postmedian area 1995(2): 887-888).
and whitish hw overlaid with brown strips and radial arcs. It
has a single eyespot (occasionally two) on the submarginal 5HFRUGHG KRVWSODQWV not recorded in the Levant,
forewing, sometimes with two white dots between them. This elsewhere Poa annua - Poaceae (Gramineae).
species shows great annual fluctuations in numbers in Mt
Hermon; usually uncommon and rather localized and a year
later hundreds at the 1850-1900 m lower subalpine altitudinal 'LVWULEXWLRQ
belt (Ilias Abai, pers. comm. to DB). Rated (EN) Endangered in
the Israeli Red List of butterflies (Renan et al., 2022 (in prep.)). TL: “Manissadjian Ende Juli bei Malaitia in Anzahal”
(Malatya, Turkey). Distributed from SE Turkey to N
%LRORJ\ Iraq, N and W Iran. S Turkey’s species belongs to the
nominotypical ssp.
)OLJKW SHULRG Early June to early August 1500-2800 m in Mt
Hermon S. Anti-Lebanon; mid-June through July and “stragglers”
till late August in the Cedar Mt, ca two weeks earlier in the
Anti-Lebanon as S. ferula makmal in Larsen (1974: 136-137);
2029-2602 m at the peak of Al-Lazzab reserve Syrian Anti-
Lebanon as S. amasinus (Zarikian & Ghrejyan, 2018).
© Dubi Benyamini
© Wolfgang Eckweiler
/LIH KLVWRU\ univoltine. In captivity a female laid 36 eggs, 24 on
the cage wall next to dry grass stalks suggesting that in the wild
many eggs are laid on objects close to LHPs, 12 eggs were laid
on dry grasses. The egg is 1.2 mm long and 0.9 mm wide, white
and glossy, barrel shaped with 10-12 vertical ribs on ca 90% © Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini
of its upper side. Eggs laid on 18/06/2013 started to hatch 5
month later, after wetting, on 14/11/2013. The larva gnawed a
series of holes around the periphery of the eggshell top before
lifting the “cap” to hatch. 50% of the eggshell is sometimes © Dubi Benyamini
consumed after hatching. The L1 is smooth, pale brown-white,
with two darker broken mid-dorsal lines and two broken lines
along the sides of the body. The head is of a slightly darker © Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini
colour than the body with a few darker spots. Overwintering in
the larval stage.
© Dubi Benyamini
5HFRUGHG KRVWSODQWV Poaceae (Gramineae): Bromus
tomentellus [?], Dactylis glomerata [?] and Elymus panormitanus
[?]. Reared larvae accepted Poa and Piptatherum spp.
'LVWULEXWLRQ
TL: “Lebanon, Cedar Mt.”. The species is endemic to the
Lebanon (Cedar) and Anti-Lebanon Mountains. Flies in
Lebanon, Syria and Israel (Mt. Hermon). © Dubi Benyamini © Stav Talal © Ali Atahan © Wolfgang Eckweiler
120 121
2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd 120 12/30/2021 4:25:51 PM 2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd 121 12/30/2021 4:25:54 PM