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Proterebia phagea (Borkhausen, 1788) Steppe Ringlet 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 8 - A | 22-01-02 | 12:34:18 | SR:-- | Cyan

The Palaearctic, cold adapted and widespread satyrine level. The pupa is squat, greyish-brown, 13-14 mm
genus Erebia, is not represented in the Levant where ORQJ DQG KDWFKHV DIWHU GD\V %DUWRŁRYi -RKQ
the climate is too dry and hot. However, the related Coutsis and Tristan Lafranchis, pers. comms.; Jutzeler &
Proterebia phegea (formerly P. afra, tribe Erebiini, Tutt, /DIUDQFKLV 0LKRFL ãDäLý
1896), known also as the Dalmatian Ringlet, is regarded
as an Asian steppe species with a relict European 5HFRUGHG KRVWSODQWV Poaceae (Gramineae). In Europe:
GLVWULEXWLRQ %DUWRŁRYi et al., 2017, 2018), expanded Festuca ovina, Bromus condensatus and possibly other
westwards from Iran in the last climatic optimum and Poaceae spp. © Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini
appears to have existed in coastal Levant regions until 8
about 100 years ago, when it was last collected before 'LVWULEXWLRQ
extinction. The species had been unknown in the
Levant until an envelope labelled ‘Sarepta, Libanon’*, TL: “...in Russiae australioris desertis Dom. Bober” (S
containing 21 males from the Staudinger/Bang-Hass Russia), from the Dalmatian coast (Croatia), N Greece
collection (1920-35?) was found in material sent (Askio and Vourinos Mts), Crimea, C & E Turkey across
for setting from Dresden Museum, Germany to the the Caucasus, N Iran, S Urals, and Kazakhstan to W
Zoological Museum, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Siberia. ‘Sarepta’, as mentioned above, refers to the
Poland (18 returned and 3 retained, Tomasz Pyrcz, pers. ruins of the ancient Phoenician city of Zarephath, near Ļ
comm.) – see Distribution. It is possibly the first of the modern Sarafand, a coastal Lebanese town located at
cold-adapted species to begin the northwards retreat in 33º27’N: 35º18’E, 22 m asl, between Tyre and Sidon.
response to the warming climate that followed the end It is ca. 430 km SSE of the (nowadays) closest Turkish
of the last glaciation period and accelerated nowadays phegea (P. afra) population ‘5 km S Dorf Sertavul’,
by the greenhouse effect. An early spring flyer, phegea Taurus Mts, Mersin Province, Lat. 36º52’ N, 1460 m
is well adapted to late winter storms and will drop to asl (Hesselbarth et al., 1995(2): 851). What caused
the ground in cloudy weather or at the approach of rain, the Lebanese extinction is unclear; the population, of © Dubi Benyamini
and will hide effectively among stones and rock crevices Asian origin that forms part of the post-Eocene westerly Samaria Desert, Kohav HaShahar, Rehavam’s Caves 620 m, 11 August 2019. P. telephassa adults aestivated on its backwalls.
(John Coutsis, pers. obs. in Lesvos Island, Greece). In expansion, possibly suffered from wet periods that led to
Europe, a preference is shown for warm mountain slopes the present-day disjunct & spotty European distribution.
and open dry steppe-like grassland. P. phegea was used We cannot rule out the possibility that local pressure
in the logo design for the 20th SEL European Congress of urbanization and agriculture along the populated
of Lepidopterology, Podgora, Dalmatia, Croatia (April, Lebanese coast contributed to its final local extinction.
2017). It was selected not only because of its unique,
isolated ssp. dalmata (Godart, 1824), which is at the * - Sarepta is a district of Volgograd (ex Stalingrad) in S. Russia. It is a
western limit of its world distribution, but also because well-known and famous butterfly region and origin of several butterfly
it is listed as (NT) ‘Near threatened’ in the Croatian Red species due to German settlers that inhabited the region since 1765.
List. The satyrine is absent from the greener coastal Omitting the word “Liban” from the phegeas envelope change the whole
story as Sarepta - nowadays the city Krasnoarmeyskiy Rayon, South of
areas, but inhabits the more arid steppe-like regions of Volgograd, S Russia is in phegea northern known distribution (Della
inner Dalmatia, where there are fears that it may lose Bruna, C. et al., 2002: 29)
its preferred biotopes and become endangered due to
the abandonment of extensive grazing and resulting
VXFFHVVLRQDO VFUXE GHYHORSPHQW %DUWRŁRYi
pers. comm.). Proterebia phegea is a monotypic species.

%LRORJ\ Ļ

)OLJKW SHULRG March/April to July 600-1200 m in Greece.
Date unknown for Lebanon.

/LIH KLVWRU\ univoltine. Courting and mating take place
around midday; couples in cop. hide among grasses and
do not tend to fly. Eggs are laid at the base of the LHP
or dropped in flight every ~50 cm while females hover
low over potential hostplant grasses. White when laid,
eggs are 1.3 mm in diameter, smooth with fine vertical
ribs, hatching after 13–19 days. L1 is 3 mm long, white
with short hairs and five longitudinal thin reddish-brown
lines and a light brown head with six round black spots.
Larvae commence feeding but diapause in mid-summer,
to resume feeding in autumn-winter upon re-growth of
fresh hostplants. Feeding at night, they grow to 30 mm
at L5, when the body is striped with longitudinal lines
of green, white and brown shades. It overwinters among
grass clumps and pupates in early spring at ground © Tolga Demir © Stav Talal

128 113

2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd 128 12/30/2021 4:26:08 PM 2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd 113 12/30/2021 4:25:28 PM