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6XEIDPLO\ +HOLFRQLLQDH                                            Issoria lathonia            Limenitis reducta Staudinger, 1901  Southern White Admiral



                                                                      A hilltopping species, resembling  Melitaea spp., but          In its gliding flight, spectacular  L.  reducta frequents
                                                                      differing by the highly distinctive mother-of-pearl markings   sunny glades in open woodland and ravines in which its
                                                                      on the hindwing underside. The female is larger, with          hostplant is found. A territorial species, the male patrols
                                                                      heavier black upperside markings and more noticeable           along its territory 10-15 m long (Shnei-Dor, 2000) or 20+
                                                                      green scaling near the body. The adults frequently bask on     m (Benyamini, 2006e & field notes) chasing away other
                                                                      bare ground, with males behaving territorially. Hilltopping    butterflies before returning to a favoured perch, a typical
                                                                      males were observed on 15 June 1974 circling the top of Mt     ravining species (territorial in ravines). Few puddling
                                                                      Hermon (2814 m, DB pers. obs.). The species is a known         records in Israel (Beit Arye, 2 September 2014 (Benyamini,
                                                                      migrant and in N Europe its populations are replenished        2014a), Mt Hermon 1600 m 12 June 2019 on the banks
                                                                      annually by migrations from the south, sometimes               of water pool for snow production (Benyamini & Tomer,
                                                                      penetrating well into northern latitudes. Common in            2019)), but “often visits mud at springs and streams”
                                                                      Hatay, S Turkey’s Amanos Mountains (Atahan et al., 2018:       in Cyprus (Makris, 2003: 222). Fruit puddling/feeding
                                                                      61). On 26.5.2016 it was observed  and photographed for        on rotten figs,  reducta‘s preferred food, was observed                          DGXOW
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                                                                                                                                                                                                           HJJ
                                                                      the first time by Yiannis Makriyianni at Pano Amiantos,        twice in Beit Arye by the author: on 2 September 2006                 lar v a  1 1  2  3  4  4  5  6  6  6  7  7  8  8  9  9  1  1  10  11  1 2
                                                                                                                                                                                              pupa
                                                                      Troodos, Cyprus (Makris pers. comm.). Uncommon in the          and on 17 August 2014 (Benyamini, 2006d & 2014d).
                                                                      Levant, where rarely more than one specimen is observed        Balint et al., (2016) suggest that “In certain years there
                                                                      at a time. However on 9 June 2018 exceptionally fifteen        are migrations when the species is able to colonize new
                                                                      specimens were observed on Mt Hermon local peak at             habitats temporarily…especially evident at the edge of the
                                                                      2050 m (Kirshenbaum, 2018a & 2018b). Occasionally, but         species’ range (i.e, ecotone) like in Israel and Jordan” –
                                                                      rarely, penetrates N Israel from S Lebanon; on 9 May 1984      however the author cannot support it yet by any evidence
                                                                      a hilltopping male, the first record to Israel, was collected   in the S Levant. In aerial courting the male flies around
                                                                      by Yitzhak Movshovits on the top of Kibbutz Menara (870        the female or follow her in formation flight (Benyamini,
                                                                      m) on the Lebanese SE border (Benyamini, 1984b).  In           2003i, illustr.1). On ground, courting was observed on 11
                                                                      their Viola tricolor garden in Kibbutz Eilon (330 m) two km    May 2012 in Godrim valley N Israel near the Lebanese
                                                                      S of the border with Lebanon Oren & Gadi Ish-Am observed       border; after landing male approached the female behind
                                                                      their first lathonia specimen in June 1990. A year later in    with closed or open wings no more than ten cm away while
                                                                      mid- June 1991 they collected a worn migrant and during        the female opened and closed her wings continuously.
                                                                      late June-July fresh specimens of local breeding colony        The female did not let him get too close and kept walking
                                                                      (Benyamini, 1991b). On 21 July 2007 a fourth penetration       on ground and on stones or flying shortly and landing on
                                                                      of lathonia was recorded by DB, Oren, Dolev & Gadi Ish-        various plants, it proceeded several minutes along ~ two
                                                                      Am inside Kibbutz Sasa (878 m, 3.2 km from S Lebanon           meters the male permanently ca ten cm behind. But then
                                                                      border); on 10:30 AM hilltopping males were patrolling a       the female started to run among stones and after 30 cm
                                                                      35 m - long backyard of a house near the peak of Sasa          took off to very low flight and landed some 20 metres
                                                                      hill with cultivated Viola tricolor LHP, nectaring on yellow   away. The male did not succeed to follow and thus lost
                                                                      and violet flowers of Lantana, Buddleja davidii and orange     the female (Benyamini, 2012g & illustr. 2). Female carries   L. r. schiffermuelleri  Higgins, 1993
                                                                      flowers of  Tagetes sp. driving out passing specimens of       the male in cop. - illustr. 3 (Observed by Laudon & Ben-Or
                                                                      Pieris rapae,  Vanessa cardui and hilltopping males of         in Ein Karem, Jerusalem and by Marios Aristophanous in
                                                                      Papilio machaon.  On 11:30 AM inside the Kibbutz a             Cyprus - pers. comms. to DB). One of very few butterflies
                                                                      female was nectaring on Vitex agnus-castus and on 15:30        with oriental origin in the Levant.
                                                                      another female landed on Viola tricolor in Gadi’s garden
                                                                      to lay eggs. All specimens observed on this day were fresh,
                                                                      possibly of local 2nd brood (Ish-Am & Benyamini, 2007).        %LRORJ\
                                                                      Ish-Am (2007) tried to find correlation between annual
                                                                      rainfall and the appearance of rare Lebanese migrants          )OLJKW SHULRG  Early April to late October, 65 m (Mt Carmel
                                                                      to northern Israel and found that  I.  lathonia arrived in     coast & Yokne’am) - 1950 m (Mt Hermon) Israel;  April-
                                                                      dry years with 67.3% (1991) and 89.4% (2007) of the            October, 300-1950 m at the Troodos summit in Cyprus
                                                                      annual rainfall suggesting that their migration to Israel      (Makris, 2003: 222); In Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges
                                                                      was aiming to look for hostplants and nectar sources. In       Larsen found it “most common in the autumnal broods
                                                                      courting, the male chases the female until she lands, then     from mid-July till October” from sl to “at least 1800 m”
                                                                      approach her by foot while vibrating his wings. A female       (Larsen, 1974: 111); April-October, sl-1850 m in Hatay
                                                                      rejected the male advance by flying away. Copulation last      (Atahan  et al., 2018: 46); 1545-2029 m at Al-Lazzab
                                                                      4-5 hours and a female was observed laying eggs about          reserve Syrian Anti-Lebanon (Zarikian & Ghrejyan, 2018);
                                                                      two days later (Lafranchis et al., 2015: 530-531). Rated       May-August, 500-700 m in N Jordan (Larsen & Nakamura,
                                                                      Endangered (EN) in the Israeli Red List of Butterflies due     1983; Katbeh-Bader et al., 2003).                            L. r. herculeana  Stichel, [1909]
                                                                      to its small population (Renan et al., 2022 (in prep.)).
                                                                                                                                     /LIH  KLVWRU\  up to four annual broods, depending on
                                                                      %LRORJ\                                                        altitude. Eggs are laid singly, rarely two, on the LHP’s
                                                                                                                                     leaf upper surface. The hemispherical egg is 0.8-1 mm
                                                                      )OLJKW SHULRG  April to October, 1000 m to upper heights       in height, greenish with honeycomb surface structure
                                                                      (2200+ m) in Lebanon (Larsen 1974: 121); May-July,
                © Limor Gefen                                         1500-2814 m in Mt. Hermon; April-July, 450-2000 m in           of the reflected larval head before eclosion. L1 emerges                                © Dubi Benyamini
                                                                                                                                     covered with bristles, gets yellowish hue and dark cap
                                                                      Hatay (Atahan et al., 2018: 61); 1545-2602 m in Al-Lazzab
                                                                                                                                     after 6 to 14 days pending external temperature and eats
                                                                                                                                     the eggshell for its first meal. It is 1.6-1.8 mm long, brown-
                                                                      reserve Syrian Anti-Lebanon (Zarikian & Ghrejyan, 2018).
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           2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd   130                                            12/30/2021   4:26:16 PM  2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd   143                                   12/30/2021   4:27:02 PM
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