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male appeared in Nazari’s (2003: 470-473, Pls. 38/39 - 20 & 21 (Benyamini, 2015c) are changed to griseus. On 2 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 2 - B | 22-01-02 | 12:34:17 | SR:-- | Cyan
7) Butterflies of Iran collected by Bahrami in Hormozgan, June 2018 a chrysippus female was collected at Alexander Subfamily 6DW\ULQDH Boisduval, 1833
Isin, 250 m in March 1997. The first Israeli record was a Rivulet HaShaon, Israel, 10 m, flying in fields of C. acutum.
male collected by Itzhak Movshovitz on 6 Sept. 1988 in an Four of her offspring bred on A. curassavica turned to be
elevated opening on the banks of HaTaninim (Crocodile) f. griseus; paratype (PT) no’ 22 a male hatched on 29 July
River near the Roman historic bridge between Jisr az- 2018. Three additional PT23-25 females hatched in the
Zarqa village (Arabic for the blue bridge) and Kibbutz first week of August (all coll. DB).
Ma’agan Michael. Three days later he paid a second
visit and observed all together about ten “pallidus” - DE candidata Hayward, 1923 (The “Egyptian pallidus Kirinia Moore, 1893
flying among hundreds typical chrysippus on both sides /griseus”): British army, Capt. Kenette J. Hayward served
of the bridge, in about 150X150 m large flat open field. between Sept. 1919 and March 1922 in Aswan, upper 5 species, Palaearctic.
Additional 5 males and two females were collected there Egypt. His interest in the biology of D. chrysippus resulted Kirinia roxelana
until 3 Oct. 1988 by two more collectors and are included in breeding over 6000 individuals and ‘examining some 1 species in the Levant.
in pallidus type series (Benyamini, 2015c)*. This location 4000 specimens’ - among them he found and described +RVWSODQWV Poaceae.
at 32°32’55.95”N and 34°54’53.50”E, 4 m asl is only a two rare aberrants; illustrated short tailed ab. axantha
few hundred meters from the Mediterranean coast near and two specimens of ab. candidata (not illustr.) (Hayward,
the estuary of the river. Nili Shahar (Israel, Kidron) a 1922 & 1923). The frequency of ab, candidata 2:10000
professional butterfly breeder of African Queens managed = 0.02% is within the rarity range of ff. pallidus/griseus.
to get ca 20 pallidus out of thousands normal chrysippus With absence of its fig. in its original description DB
she was supplying every week to wedding ceremonies. In could rely only of its wording: “Abdomen above ash-grey…
June 2009 she isolated the pallidus in a separate large beneath light grey…wings…pale whitish-buff…costal and
breeding cage trying to get pure grey homozygotes and basal areas of the fore wings grey, the epical patches and
a permanent greenhouse community for her commercial margins black marked with white as in chrysippus (and
activities – comparable to the work on the white Monarch pallidus/griseus DB) the veins light grey”. The word “grey”
f. nivosus of Hawaii; but insufficient supply of hostplant that appear four times and “pale whitish” once resulted Lasiommata Westwood, 1841
stopped her experiment. Six years elapsed and pallidus in DB’s suspicion that ab. candidata is actually the first
appeared again in HaSharon – Binyamina plains of C. description of f. pallidus. Finally in 9/2021 when R. Vane- 16 species, Palaearctic & 2 African.
Israel. Of special concern were the deserted green houses Wright sent him the photograph of candidata types and it Lasiommata maera
of Maor village where thousands of fully developed turned to be a different butterfly where its BUFF color is 2 species in the Levant.
cultivated Gomphocarpus fruticosus (Apocynaceae ex indeed identical to its definition in Maerz & Paul (1950) +RVWSODQWV Cyperaceae, Poaceae.
Asclepiadaceae) attracted the local chrysippus and within Dictionary of Color in plate 11 fig K7 where it appeared
a few weeks produced a local population of thousands between Honey-sweet / Brass / Inca Gold / Yellow Ocher
specimens. Between 18 July and 22 August 2015 DB and Nugget- Bronze faraway from pallidus/griseus’ grey
observed between 3000 to 10000 individuals a day in his basic tone – illustr. 5.
daily visits; mostly inside the central greenhouse where
“cyclone” of thousands chrysippus were flying in ca 10 - f. orientis (Aurivillius 1909) that was described as
meters circle around the central powerful lamps. 99.97% “var. of Danaida chrysippus” from Comoro Is. Malagasy
of the flying queens were the orange – brown chrysippus Republic” is distinguished by the larger subapical white
forms and only 0.03% were pallidus. * However the pallidus spots in forewing spaces 4 & 5 and a submarginal white
proportion in a certain local population can be much spot in the orange/brown area of fw space 2 (illustr. 6) Pararge Hübner, [1819]
higher and is pending the occurrence of a homozygous and is regarded by Smith (2014: 198) as semispecies.
female; it happened in the type-locality in Sept. 1988 Aurivillius characterized it as an Indian Ocean islands 3 species, Palaearctic.
where eight of the type series were collected within a race but is now accepted as the dominant form in most 1 species in the Levant.
small area (Benyamini, 2015c). It also happened in a DB’s of southern Africa. Further northwards in E Africa it Pararge aegeria
breeding experiment in late Sept. 2018 when three out “occurs seasonally in Tanzania...and is very rare in Kenya +RVWSODQWV Poaceae.
of 40 bred adults from Alexander River, HaSharon Plains and Uganda (below 1%, Smith 2014: 200 & unpublished
(7.5%) were pallidus (two females and one male). info.)”. But while it is (still) absent in Sudan, Egypt and the
Arabian Peninsula it was very rare in the Levant and far out
- f. pallidus remained “loyal” to its T.L. in HaSharon- of Smith’s (2014: Fig 1.13) distribution map. DB collected
Binyamina plains except two other biotopes: a. On 30 Oct. the first orientis (female) in Bat Galim, Haifa, Israel on 27
2010 in Ein Afeq, N Israel a few pallidus were observed Oct. 1960 and a female ex larva on Cynanchum acutum
and additional one the following year (A. Oz pers. comms.). from the banks of the Kishon River, Haifa hatched on 20
b. One worn male was photographed on 10 July 2020 Oct. 1969. The first specimen (male) to Jordan; bred from
near the Yarkon River sources, Rosh-Ha’ayin, E Tel Aviv a larva found on Gomphocarpus sinaicus in Wadi Rum and
(Meyuhas & Laudon, 2020). hatched on 22 May 1998 – illustr. 6 (Benyamini 2015c
: 94) Stav Talal photographed a rare male alcippus with Coenonympha Hübner, [1819]
- New f. griseus Benyamini, 2021. Over 50% of the the typical orientis white spot in Ein Afek reserve, N Israel
pallidus types (Benyamini, 2015) were not pale – white on 8 August 2008 - illustr. Dick Vane-Wright opined on About 40 species, Holarctic.
and the colour of their upper surface of all four wings this: “Great photograph! I would have little hesitation in 3 species in the Levant.
was grey. This is a mirror image of f. chrysippus honey calling your Israeli specimen f. ‘alcippoides’. Compare Coenonympha pamphilus
coloured to f. aegyptius whole deep-brown colour. The with Moore’s original figure (the type locality is “Nepal” +RVWSODQWV Cyperaceae, Iridaceae, Poaceae.
Holotype is from Maor Village, Hasharon 30 m, 1 Aug. and he described it as a new species): Your specimen has
2015 – ex pallidus paratype no’ 13 and the Allotype is less white on hw -- but that is the norm for what is usually
also from Maor Village 27 July 2015 – ex pallidus paratype called ‘alcippoides’. Note the ‘orientis spot’ in both -- and
no’ 11– illustr. 7. Names of pratypes Nos 12, 16, 17, 19, the rather broad forewing white preapical band”. Dick

30 19

2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd 30 12/30/2021 4:21:03 PM 2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd 19 12/30/2021 4:20:26 PM