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those who migrate both ways as explained earlier in the * or more interesting & challenging found a more sophisticated (& 3 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 10 - A | 22-01-02 | 12:34:18 | SR:-- | Cyan
parag. So, like the Monarchs first fly northwards to their simple?) way to carry out point to point navigation without these two 3
northbound summer visit and their offspring have the “crucial” systems!).
“built-in” data to find the way back to their overwintering
sites. I find it more complicated and challenging because: 7UDFLQJ RULJLQ RI PLJUDWLRQ WR 6 /HYDQW During the third
a) only seldom the Red Admirals fly in swarms and the International Congress on Middle Eastern Butterflies
usual practice are “wise & knowledgeable” singletons (Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv 31.5-
that “know” where to go in spring northwards and in the 2.6.2018). Gerard Talavera (CSIC-UPF, Barcelona, Spain)
autumn find their family overwintering spotty sites in C & presented a new technique of using pollen found on
S Levant. b) if the Levantines breed both places/in the bodies of migrating specimens to detect its origin. In
south and in the north the epigenetics chains are longer correspondence with DB he added: “Although it may
but they still manage to transfer the GPS locations of all seems intuitive that pollen is not retain at long term, we
their breeding sites as well as the flight plan to go there have found cases of pollen presence from very distant
– fig. 2 presents the suggested movements of V. atalanta regions”. In 2018 autumn DB and Evyatar Feingold
between the Levant and C & S Europe both ways. There is collected early arriving atalanta specimens in Sde-Boker 10
still a lot of research to be done to fully understand this C Negev Israel. These specimens were sent to Barcelona
challenging phenomenon and DB hopes that he made the and were analyzed but “although some pollen reads
first right step to uncover atalanta’s secrets. were there, these are not conclusive”; it seems that we
were not careful enough in trying to preserve its carry-on
Northbound in S & C Europe pollen. But it is also possible that these specimens may
have arrived earlier and lost their original pollen during
daily flight activity in this overwintering site.
new brood
return specimens So far, we still did not applicate the stable isotope
larvae technique to find the origin of autumn’s southbound © Yehiel Oknin © Yehiel Oknin
arrivals to the Levant.

%LRORJ\
)OLJKW SHULRG In the Levant, atalanta is regarded as
Southbound in S Levant a species of the autumn, winter and spring months. A
Fig.2 - northbound and southband migrations of the Red Admiral and its northerly migration in spring appears to be the norm, with
offspring - epigenetics at its best. returning adults appearing from late September. In most © Dubi Benyamini
areas of the Levant, the main flight activity is seen between
&RUUHVSRQGLQJ ZLWK (YD <DEORQFD the first author of
Evolution in Four Dimensions (Yablonka & Lamb, revised February and April/May, following spring breeding; SL-
ed. 2014). She suggested to DB other possible solutions: 2000 m all year round in Hatay (Atahan et al., 2018: 51);
a. Returning Admirals can sense hostplants that were “January and February possibly hibernating specimens…
used a year earlier and lay eggs there again. appear on the coast and at middle heights” in Lebanon
E If returning adults are attracted to hostplants that were and later in summer they are “restricted to the hills”
in use the previous year and land on them it does not (Larsen, 1974: 116); In N Jordan single specimens were
prove that they are ancestors of previous year visitors. But collected in April, May, June and November, December © Leah Benyamini © Leah Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini
if we can prove that they are offspring of the individuals (Katbeh-Bader et al., 2003); In Egypt Larsen recorded a
that visited the same plant a year earlier, it suggests that specimen in March 1987 in the Siwa oasis, western desert 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5
epigenetic inheritance is involved in finding LHP’s exact and mention a record from August in Cairo (Larsen, 1990:
location. 56), A larva was found in January by Andres in “Nasseln”
F We should find a “non-destructive” way to prove (DNA) (the Nile Delta ?) (Andres & Seitz, 1923). However, the
family linkage of local yearly returning adults (son, father, most southern records of overwintering specimens,
grandfather etc.) in its limit of distribution, were observed by DB around
G In the 4th parag. of her book; The Epigenetic Inheritance Santa-Katarina and wadi Jibal, 1600-2000 m, S Sinai at
Systems (EIS) we can find partial explanations how cell latitude 28°32’10’’ N (Deir el-Arbain Monastery) between
can remember and transmitte knowledge to their progeny. September and November; no less than 330 km SE of © Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini
Even if epigenetic inherence is involved, this will only Cairo (Benyamini, 1984) – illustr. 8; 2029-2400 m at Al-
partially explain the Red Admiral’s annual behavior. The Lazzab reserve, Syrian Anti-Lebanon (Zarikian & Ghrejyan, 6 6
mechanisms underlying this migratory behavior are poorly 2018).
understood.
In 2019 Merlin & Liedvogel (Texas A & M Univ., USA /LIH KLVWRU\ univoltine. A single egg is laid on the leaves
& Max Planck Inst. for Evolutionary Biology. Plön, of the hostplant. The eggs are 0.8 mm in height, green
Germany) summarized their current knowledge on the with 10 vertical ribs; egg colour changes to black before
genetics and epigenetics of butterflies migration and hatching. The emerging larva is 1.6 mm long, hairy, green
orientation. Unfortunately they did not point out to the real with a black head. The eggshell is not consumed, the larva
problematic lack of knowledge of “GPS” locations* and moving immediately to the base of a leaf where it forms
“Computer navigation flight plan”* of the migrants that a shelter by drawing together the edges of a young leaf.
keep arriving precisely on time to their exact summer and Such “tents” are constructed during all instars. The mature
winter biotopes, keeping their secrets from us in the 21st larva is 35 mm in length, spiky, usually black-grey with a
Anthropocene century. broken yellowish-white line on the sides. The pupa is 23 © Dubi Benyamini
mm long, light grey to brown with metallic golden spots

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