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Melitaea acentria arabica  Benyamini, Pittaway & Coutsis n. ssp.   Arabian Fritillary                                                                                                             M.   a a a a a a a a.  ace ntr  2 2
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                                                                                                                                                                                                                    M. a. acentriaia
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                   An endemic, isolated, subspecies from central Saudi   needs to be taken in separating individuals of M. acentria
                   Arabia, which is common in late winter and early spring   and M. persea.
                   along the Jabal Tuwaiq/Tuwayq Escarpment (Pittaway,   Captain A. F. Hemming C.B.E. described Melitaea persea
                   1979; 1981), a roughly 800 km long series of rocky   sargon, ssp. nov. (1932) based on seven  Melitaea
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                   canyons, gullies and wadis which run off and along a small   specimens collected by W. K. Loftus in Baghdad, Ottoman
                   escarpment running up through the central Nejd plateau   Turkey (the then Turkish Empire Vilayet (district) of                                                                                   paratype of ´M. persea sargon””
                                                                                                                                                                                                                   type of
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                                                                                                                                                                                                                             ea sargon
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                   of Saudi Arabia at around 600 – 1150 m asl. The area   Baghdad) before World War 1 (1914-18), noting that ‘the                                                                              Hemming, 1932, Jordan, Wadi Rajil
                   receives most of its rain in late winter and spring, but   largely unmarked upperside is the main characteristic’.                                                                                  20.4.1927
                                                                                                                                                              DGXOW                                  © Trustees Natural History Museum London,
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                   there can be violent thunderstorms during the summer.   These are in the Natural History Museum, London --                                HJJ  1    2     3     4   6    7    8    9   10  1 1  12   used with permission.
 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 13 - B | 22-01-02 | 12:34:18 | SR:-- | Magenta
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 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 13 - B | 22-01-02 | 12:34:18 | SR:-- | Yellow
                                                                                                                                                     lar v aa
 #21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 13 - B | 22-01-02 | 12:34:18 | SR:-- | Black
 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 13 - B | 22-01-02 | 12:34:18 | SR:-- | Cyan
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                   In winter there are even frosts and a little snow (Pittaway   NHMUK, B.M.(N.H.) types No’s RH 380-386, where the             pupa
                   pers. comm. to DB). Most of the wadis and gullies support   holotype male is RH 380, allotype female RH 381, five                                                             M. a. acentria
                   a significant bottom strip of low forbs. The persistence of a   males paratypes no’s 382-386, along with a female                                                                (Tristram)
                   Melitaea species in the central Arabian super-overgrazed   collected on 20.iv.1927 by L. K. Lockhart in Transjordan
                   highlands is due to exceptional circumstances;     at Wadi Rajil NW of Jebel Kurma eastern desert, 20 miles
                   a. During winter and spring, grazing animals tend to avoid   east of Qasr Azraq (Hemming coll. No. 19785 – illustr. 2).
                   the many strongly aromatic herbs, including  Teucrium   Larsen (1983: 433) and Pittaway (1979 & 1985) used
                   oliverianum Ging. ex Benth. (the larval host (Pittaway,   the same scientific name, M. p. sargon Hemming, 1932,
                   1979)), preferring grasses, trefoils, mallows, composites   for the Arabian Fritillary without a detailed check of the
                   etc. It is during this period that the Arabian Fritillary   genitalia. Male paratype No. RH 386 was received on
                   breeds.                                            loan from NHMUK * (London) to DB (illustr. 3) and was
                   b. By late spring, when most of the low vegetation has   transferred in person to John Coutsis in Athens together
                   withered, the hungry animals will start nibbling on plants   with three Arabian males all leg. Tony Pittaway. Its genitalia   Mt. Hermon 2000m.  7.6.1973  Mt. Hermon 2300m.  15.6.1974  M. a. acentria
                   like  Teucrium, but by this time the now diapausing L3   was checked and drawn by John Coutsis (Athens, Greece –
                   larvae are already well protected inside their small ‘nests’   illusrt. 4) who found it, most surprisingly, to be ‘identical’
                   low down at the base of the hostplant.             to that of Melitaea acentria from Mt Hermon (illustr. 5).
                   This same strategy is used by diapausing L3 larvae   A second female was collected 66 years later on 19 April
                   of  Melitaea arduinna (Esper, 1783) in the Levant and   1993 between Na’ur (W Amman) and NE Dead Sea, 500
                   elsewhere (Benyamini, 2011a; Russell  et al., 2017;   m, Jordan, by ten-Hagen, and is presently in his collection                    Mt. Hermon 1650m.  19.5.1973
                   Benyamini & Russell, 2019; DB breeding notes). DB did   – illustr. 6 (ten-Hagen pers. comm.). This Jordanian race,
                   find a possible Levantine hostplant at Ras en Naqb (1550   based on two females, looks closer to M. a. acentria, but
                   m) on 27 May 2007, namely Teucrium pruinosum Boiss.,   its present status is unknown and cannot be substantiated
                   which was at the southern edge of Edom above the Hisma   without a matching Jordanian male.
                   Basin, S Jordan. These plants were in full bloom but   Additional material was collected in 1 May 1995 by ten-                                                                M. a. acentria
                   without any Melitaea present - illustr. 1.         Hagen on the eastern slopes of Jebel al-Druz, ‘Hauran’,
                                                                      S Syria at Rushaydah (1400 m) & Busan (1500 m). On                      Partially aberrant           6
                   7KH  LGHQWLW\  RI  ¶Melitaea persea sargon·  IURP  FHQWUDO   dissection by JC its identity was revealed to be M. acentria   Mt. Hermon 2000m. 2.7.1975  Syria, Qarah 2000m. 29.6.1966
                   6DXGL $UDELD  It should be noted that Melitaea acentria   acentria - illustr. 1 in former species .
                   was first described in 2017 by Lukhtanov from Mt Hermon,   This relict and local population together with both
                   S Anti-Lebanon ridge, northern Israel. Up until then these   Jordanian females (M. acentria ssp.?) form part of the
                   populations were assumed to form part of the  Melitaea   ancient “bridge” between the  Lebanese  / Anti-Lebanese
                   persea complex. Between 1978 and 1980 Pittaway     nominotypical  M. acentria population and the newly
                   collected a series of a poorly marked, pale  Melitaea in   described C Arabian M. a. arabica (in this chapter).             L Lebanon,  ,              Lb
                                                                                                                                                ebanon
                                                                                                                                                                          Lebanon,
                   wadis of the Jabal Tuwaiq near Riyadh, central Saudi                                                                  Cedar Mts. 1986m. 17.6.2014  Cedar Mts. 1986m. 17.6.2014  M. a. arabica
                   Arabia. After discussions with Larsen, and comparison with   'HVFULSWLRQ RI WKH QHZ VVS  Melitaea acentria arabica n.
                   material from Iraq, these were assigned to Melitaea persea   ssp. Benyamini, Pittaway & Coutsis; (Benyamini, 2022b).
                   sargon Hemming, 1932 (Pittaway, 1979), although Walker   7\SHV - 0DOHV
                   & Pittaway (1987) did note that ‘it differs considerably   - 01  +RORW\SH  forewing length 17 mm, labelled as: ‘25
                   from the Iraq and Persian butterflies in diminished size   APR. 1980 [/] DIRIYAH [/] C SAUDI ARABIA (Printed) [/]
                   and number of black spots on the upperside of the wings’.   coll. A. R. PITTAWAY (Printed)’ and ‘Holotype’ red label           1                         1
                   Larsen (1983) had even commented that ‘the Arabian   (Printed) in col. DB – illustr. 4;                             Syria, Hauran, Busan 1500m. 1.5.1995  Syria, Hauran, Rushaydah 1400m. 1.5.1995
                   series [collected by Pittaway] are even more extreme than   SDUDW\SHV  PT 02 - forewing length 18.6 mm, labelled as
                   the original series of ssp. sargon [described by Hemming]’.  ‘Al GHAT [/] 30.3.1983 [/] Col. Dubi Benyamini (Printed)                                                                                    ‹ ‹ 'XEL %HQ\DPLQL Q L
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                   Lukhtanov (2017) stated that ‘in  M.  acentria the   [/] C. Saudi Arabia [/] leg A. R. Pittaway’ and ‘M. acentria
                   genitalia are clearly different from both  M.  persea and   [/] ssp. sargon [/] prep. no. [/] 5753’ (prepared by John                                                         M. a. arabica
                   Melitaea didyma (Esper, 1779), but at the same time   Coutsis, Athens Greece) and ‘Paratype’ (Yellow label
                   are intermediate in some aspects’. His conclusion was   printed) in coll. DB* ;
                   that  M.  acentria originated 1–1.6 million years ago in   PT 03 - forewing length 17.9 mm, labelled as ‘25.                   3                         4 4
                                                                                                                                             M. acentria VVS "
                   the Levantine refugium from a common ancestor with   APR.1980 [/] DIRIYAH [/] C. SAUDI ARABIA (Printed) [/]        Jordan, Na’ur, Amman 500 m. 19.4.1993   Mt Hermon, 2-5 June 1864
                   M.  persea, probably as a result of hybridization with  M.   COLL. A. R. PITTAWAY’ and ‘Melitaea acentria arabica
                   didyma, but that it still belongs to the M. persea species   n. ssp. (Printed) [/] Benyamini, Pittaway & Coutsis
                   complex. Tshikolovets & Ben Yehuda (2020) state that the   2021’ (Printed) [/] Paratype 03 (printed) and ‘Genitalia
                   ‘distribution of M. acentria requires clarification because   Preparation (Printed) [/] No. 5897, M. acentria. (Printed)
                   some records are confused with  M. persea’. Thus care   [/] NHMUK 012824338.’ (Printed) and ‘B.M.(N.H) (Printed)                                              © Dubi Benyamini
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           2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd   202                                            12/30/2021   4:29:55 PM  2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd   199                                   12/30/2021   4:29:48 PM
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