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Polygonia egea (Cramer, 1775)                                   Southern Comma                            11      high and 0.7 mm max. diameter,  are semi-glossy green

                                                                                                                                     with 9-12 (average 10) vertical thin ribs, before hatching,
                                                                                                                                     its third upper part turns black.  L1 emerges after 4-7 days
                   Flies in a variety of habitats, especially hilly areas, where it may often                                        in the summer but two weeks in spring, it cuts and lifts the
                   be seen basking in the sun. In urban areas, P. egea frequently alights                                            upper cap of the egg to come out and does not eat its lower   © Dubi Benyamini  © Dubi Benyamini  © Dubi Benyamini  © Dubi Benyamini
                   to bask on walls, old houses and archaeological sites, particularly                                               shell, is 2 mm long, greenish-brown with black long hairs
                   where its hostplants grow. This species is recognized by its orange-                                                  © Dubi Benyamini
 #                                                                                                                                   and dark brown head. The growing larva that hides under
                   brown colour, deeply scalloped wing appearance and typical flight - a                                             the leaves “cleans” LHP branches by eating the leaves
                   combination of fluttering and gliding. The ‘comma’ marking on the                                                 first, then the flower buds and the flowers leaving bare
                   hindwing underside is more ‘V’-shaped than in P. c-album. A territorial                                           stalks that marks its position on the hostplant. The mature
                   species, males site head down in their perches 10-50 metres apart,                                                larva is up to 35 mm long. grey-brown with black markings,
 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 11 - A | 22-01-02 | 12:34:18 | SR:-- | Magenta
                   day after day up to 36 consecutive days, they return to their point of                                            yellow – grey - transparent branched spines, orange wavy   © Leah Benyamini  © Dubi Benyamini  © Leah Benyamini
 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 11 - A | 22-01-02 | 12:34:18 | SR:-- | Yellow
 #21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 11 - A | 22-01-02 | 12:34:18 | SR:-- | Black
 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 11 - A | 22-01-02 | 12:34:18 | SR:-- | Cyan
                   origin after intercepting other butterflies entering their territory. But will                                    side lines, white circles with black centres on the sides
                   intercept other congener males in spiralling flight up to ten meters high.                         DGXOW
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                                                                                                   HJJ  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10  11  12  marking the spiracles and orange head (see details in
                   Rarely mud puddle (Moshe, 2016). Male’s hilltopping recorded in the                lar v a                        the next page). L5 pupates on stiff walls, inside small
                                                                                      pupa
                   Golan Heights at Mt Bental 1100 m on 5 May 2004 (Avni, 2004), Mt                                                  wall caves/hollows 25 cm to 3 meters above the ground,
                   Hermon Anti-Lebanon peak at 2814 m on 15 June 1974 (DB pers. obs.),                                               seldom on the LHP. “J” shaped suspended pre-pupa is 17-
                   Mt Hermon local peaks at 1850 m (Talal, 20 June 2009d), 2050-2100                                                 18 mm long, 12-14 hours later a 20-21 mm long and 8 mm
                   m (Pe’er, G. 12 June 2003; Benyamini & Tomer, 7 July 2007; Benyamini,                                             wide pupa is formed, light grey to light-brown or light gold in   © Leah Benyamini      © Dubi Benyamini
                   12 June 2009e;  Benyamini, 11 July 2016e and almost every year near                                               colour. Adult hatches after 6-10 days in June—September,
                                                                                   Israel,
                   the Hermon battle monument at 2050 m), 2150 m (Benyamini  et al.,   Jerusalem,                                    15 days in October and about 24 days in late October to
                   2 July 2005) and on top of Gebel Barouk, overlooking Lake (reservoir)   23.5.1981                                 mid-November. Overwinters as an adult; three adults that
                   Qaraoun, S Lebanon, 1990 m, 9 July 1982 (DB pers. obs, - illustr. 1).                                             hatched in an outside breeding cage in Beit Arye (340 m, C
                   Adults hibernate in winter until late January or February. In late autumn                                         Israel plateaux) on 7 November 2020 between 09:00 and
                   (October-November) there are occasional sightings of adults dispersing                                            11:00 started overwintering diapause by hiding in a dry
                   to warmer lower areas at internal coastal valleys e.g. near Ben-Gurion                                            hollow under horizontal stone during rainy, cloudy, windy
                   international airport Lod, C Israel a specimen was photographed by DB                                             and cold days but coming out to busk on sunny days (DB
                   on a red flower of Lantana camara on 3 November 2002 (Benyamini,   Mt Hermon,                                     breeding notes, Eisenstein, 2000: 202, Affranchise et al.,
                   2003h & illustr. 2). They descend eastwards to Samarian and Judean   2600 m.                                                                                               © Leah Benyamini  © Leah Benyamini  © Leah Benyamini
                   deserts (e.g. near Nokdim, 17 November 2017 (Kirshenbaum, 2018c))   22.6.1974                                     2015: 448-451).
                   and as low as the Dead Sea coast at about 380 metres below sea-level
                   (e.g. 5 km south of Wadi Kidron estuary to the Dead Sea on 25 January                                             3UHGDWRUV  Larvae are attacked by the larva-pupa Tachinid

                                                                                                f
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                   1975.) where they are active in warm January mid-winter days (DB pers.              f. j-albumm                   fly  Sturmia bella that hatch from the pupae. On 13
                   obs, & illustr. 3) and again after their hibernation when they wake up in                                         September 2020 at Nabi Samwil many empty (hatched)
                   early spring (e.g. Ein Gedi, 20 February 2007 Schwartz-Tzachor (illustr.                                          eggs without signs of leaves consumption by young larvae
                   4); Ein Fashkha, 24 March 1989 DB). The dark form  j-album appears                                                suggest that L1s are attacked and eaten by ants that are
                   usually at high elevations and is dominant at the Anti-Lebanon; a form   Israel,  ,                               common in warm sunny places of the biotope.
                                                                                    e
                                                                                     l
                   found in Turkey and the Middle East. The southern comma used to fly in   W Yehiam
                                                                                    iam
                                                                                    m.
                   the old city of Jerusalem, often observed on its famous historic walls but   170 m.                               &RQVHUYDWLRQ  cleaning of old buildings walls in France                                 © Leah Benyamini
                                                                                     971
                   now mostly disappeared from this typical egea biotope and is in a strong   12.6.1971                              destroyed  Perietaria judaica hostplants and  egea  early
                   decline all over Israel (DB field & breeding notes; Lafranchis et al., 2015:                                      stages in its preferred biotopes, however after stopping              2                        4 4 4
                   448-451). Rated Endangered (EN) in the Israeli Red List of Butterflies                                            this destruction  egea did not return (Lafranchis, pers.
                   due to its small population size & decline (Renan et al. 2022, (in prep.)).                                       comm.). A similar “cleaning” happened in Nabi Samwil
                                                                                                                                     (Tomb of Samuel historic site, 880 m 10 minutes by car
                                                                                                                                     NNW of Jerusalem), one of the last holds of egea in Israel.
                   %LRORJ\                                                        Israel,                                            The holly site’s manager disliked the “dirty” look of the old
                                                                                 Dead-Sea                                            walls and cleaned it with electric scythe. It was too late for
                                                                                Coast,  -380 m                                       the Israeli lepidopterists Society to stop him and we hope
                   )OLJKW SHULRG  January to November, depending on location and elevation;   (bsl), 5 km S of
                   -380 m bsl (Ein Gedi, Dead Sea coast) to 2814 m at Mt Hermon peak,   Nahal Kidron                                 that  egea will return when its wall hostplants will grow
                   Israel; May-July sl-1900 m in Hatay, S Turkey (Atahan et al. 2018: 54 &   25.1.1975                               again (Eran Benyamini, Dudu Ben-Or and Moshe Laudon
                   pers. comm. to DB); February – September sl “to the highest peaks” in           3                                 pers. comms. to DB).                                           © Dubi benyamini      © Racheli Shwarz-Tsachor
                   Lebanon (Larsen, 1974: 120); 2300-2400 m in Al-Lazzab reserve Syrian     Overwintering female
                   Anti-Lebanon (Zarikian & Ghrejyan, 2018); March-November -300 m                                                   5HFRUGHG  KRVWSODQWV   Urticaceae -  Parietaria judaica,  P.
                   bsl (Ghawr Kabid, lower Jordan valley) to over 1000 m in C & N Jordan                                             alsinifolia, P. cretica, P. lusitanica,
                   (Larsen & Nakamura, 1983; Katbeh-Bader et al., 2003).
                                                                                S Lebanon,
                                                                                  Gebel                                              'LVWULEXWLRQ
                   /LIH  KLVWRU\   polyvoltine. Males hatch two days before females, but   Barouk
                   mate only three days later. During these three days female reject male   1990 m.
                   advace by lifting her abdomen between closed wings, turns head to   9.7.1982                                      TL: Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey). The species’
                   head towards the male, flipping her wings or flying away, Mating that                                             distribution ranges across S Europe from the French Riviera
                   started on 29 September 2020 between 14:00 and 18:00 lust at least               1                                through Italy, Hungary, Czech Republic, Greece (present on
                   until 21:00, while female carried the male in cop. She laid first eggs two                                        many Mediterranean islands, but surprisingly absent from
                   days later. During the next nine days until 10.10.2020 she laid between                                           Cyprus) to Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan (absent from
                   13 to 32 eggs every day and 152 in total. Eggs are laid one at a time, up                                         Sinai), and east to N India and C Asia. Reaching its southern
                   to seven (not continuously) on the upper surface of an hostplant’s leaf                                           Levant’s distribution limit in Arad (630 m, 31°15.5’N) NE
                   usually close to its edges, barrel shape tapered upwards, 0.7-1.0 mm                     ©Dubi Benyamini          1HJHY  ,VUDHO  7KH QRPLQRW\SLFDO VVS  ÁLHV LQ WKH /HYDQW                                © Dubi Benyamini
              168                                                                                                                                                                                                                        169
           2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd   168                                            12/30/2021   4:28:06 PM  2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd   169                                   12/30/2021   4:28:11 PM
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