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Pararge aegeria  (Linnaeus, 1758)                                Speckled Wood



                   Strongly favours dappled sunlight in light woodland, often
                   near watercourses or other wet areas where flight appears
                   aimless and erratic when not being territorial. However,
                   males are usually territorial and vigorously defend their
                   territory (a chosen perch in a patch of sunlight) and are
                   often seen in spiralling flights, intercepting intruders to their
                   territory. Occasionally forms colonies, and communal night-
                   time roosting has been reported. Head to head courtship
                   involves the enveloping of the female antennae between
                   the male’s forewings, where contact is made with the male                                                                                            © Peter Russell  © Wolfgang Wagner  © Wolfgang Wagner  © Wolfgang Wagner
                   androconia; mating occurs at treetop level (Thomas &
                   Lewington, 2014: 236). Attracted to light traps (Bálint et al.,
                   2016). Not recorded between 2013-2021 and regarded as                          DGXOW  1    2    3    4        5    6    7    8    9   10  1 1  1  1  1  1  12
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                                                                                          HJJ
                   locally extinct at mid-elevations of Mt Hermon, due to cow                 lar v a
                                                                             pupa
                   overgrazing since the late 1990s. Two observations in 28
                   May 2021 and 4 June 2021 both near Mt Hermon ski lower
                   station at 1600 m are possibly new re-establishment of the
                   Speckled Wood from lower biotopes in N Jordan valley and
                   close-by Lebanese populations. Ranked Endangered (EN) in
                   the Israeli Red list of butterflies due to its small geographic                                                                        © Wolfgang Wagner              © Wolfgang Wagner                  © Wolfgang Wagner
                   range (Renan et al., 2022 (in prep.)).
                   %LRORJ\
                   )OLJKW  SHULRG  Mid February to September in Israel’s N
                   Jordan Valley; Late May to late July, 1500--2050 m in Mt
                   Hermon; Year round, emerging earlier at lower elevations
                   in Lebanon, found from the coast to 1500 m (Larsen, 1974:
                   141); Year round, redused activity Nov.-Feb. in Cyprus, sl to
                   Troodos summit at 1950 m (Makris, 2003: 258); March-
                   Oct. in Hatay, sl to 2000 m (Atahan et al., 2018: 101); Early
                   April to September around Aammiq area in the Beqaa Valley
                   of E Lebanon (Beale & Sprenger, 2006).                                                                                                 © Wolfgang Wagner              © Wolfgang Wagner                   © Dubi Benyamini
                   /LIH KLVWRU\  bivoltine to polyvoltine, depending on elevation.
                   Eggs are laid singly, on or beneath blades of grass. Shreeve
                   (1986) stated, ’females distribute eggs over a large area
                   with extended flights after laying each egg…’. The egg is
                   rounded, 0.8 mm in height, porcelain white when laid and
                   with a finely textured surface. L1 hatches after 7-10 days
                   and eats the eggshell. L1 is white with a glossy black head,
                   2.5 mm in length and hairy. At maturity, L5 is 28 mm long,
                   green with longitudinal yellowish and dark stripes and short
                   hairs. The pupa, which is suspended from the hostplant, is
                   12.5 mm in length, pale green to brown-green and hatches                                 © Dubi Benyamini
                   after 10-14 days. In the Levant, as in Europe, the species
                   may overwinter in either the larval or the pupal stages                                                                                                © Peter Russell
                   (Warecki, 2010: 123; Lafranchis et al., 2015: 563).
                   5HFRUGHG   KRVWSODQWV   Poaceae  (Gramineae)  –
                   Brachypodium pinnatum,  Cynodon dactylon,  Dactylis
                   glomerata, Avena, Elymus & Poa spp.
                   'LVWULEXWLRQ
                   TL: S Europe and N Africa. Widely distributed from N Africa
                   to Europe and Russia, Caucasia, Turkey, Cyprus, Syria,
                   Lebanon, Israel (reaching its southernmost distribution
                   point in the upper Jordan Valley), and C Asia. (Absent from
                   Jordan and Sinai.) The nominotypical ssp. flies in the Levant.
                                                                                                            © Albert Keshet                                               © Peter Russell                                     © Adrian Hoskins
              50                                                                                                                                                                                                                          63
           2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd   50                                             12/30/2021   4:22:12 PM  2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd   63                                    12/30/2021   4:22:58 PM
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