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                   Hyponephele wagneri (Herrich-Schäffer, [1846])    Oriental Steppe Brown



                   Possibly the rarest butterfly in the Levant, with only one
                   confirmed record to date (on 30.8.2012) from the east
                   of Haydarlar village (320 m), south of Hassa, NE Hatay,
                   six km from the Syrian border. The discoverer, Dr Ali
 #
                   Atahan (Antakia city, Hatay), has made numerous visits                     ?
                   to the area each year, but has not repeated his success.
                   Similarly, on 25.9.2013, DB visited the biotope – a
                   strange isolated flat, volcanic rocky plain with little soil or
                                                                                                                                                             ©  Adam Warecki
                   vegetation – where only a few butterflies were observed,                                                                                 ©  Martin Wiemers
 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 4 - A | 22-01-02 | 12:34:17 | SR:-- | Magenta
 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 4 - A | 22-01-02 | 12:34:17 | SR:-- | Yellow
                   including Maniola telmessia  ʆ  DQG Pieris rapae, but a
 #21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 4 - A | 22-01-02 | 12:34:17 | SR:-- | Black
 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 4 - A | 22-01-02 | 12:34:17 | SR:-- | Cyan
                   careful full-day search of the biotope and nearby hills up
                   to 600 m, did not yield another wagneri. The source of
                   the singleton (a migrant?) is possibly the northwestern                           DGXOW  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10  11  12
                                                                                                    8
                                                                                           HJJ
                   Syrian mountains. In 2016, Noushig Zarikian (a PhD                         lar v a
                                                                                     pupa
                   student at Yerevan Inst. of Zoology, Armenia), published
                   a comparative study of the butterflies collected during
                   2009-2012 expeditions in various  places in Syria (incld.
                   Aleppo). Zarikian (2016) included  H.  wagneri but did
                   not appreciate that this represented the first record                                                                                     ©  Adam Warecki               ©  Adam Warecki                   ©  Martin Wiemers
                   for Syria (pers. comm. to DB). This handsome species
                   has an elongated upf apical ocelli, a conspicuous unh
                   white post discal band, and sharply pointed, scalloped
                   hindwing outer margin.
                   %LRORJ\


                   )OLJKW  SHULRG  on the wing from early June to late July
                   (when males perish); females aestivate until the end of
                   August/early September, when they resume flying and
                   oviposit. The sole Levant specimen was photographed in
                   late August and possibly represents a post-aestivation
                   female, seeking egg-laying sites (Atahan et al., 2018: 92
                   & pers. comm. to DB).                                                                                                                               ©  Martin Wiemers
                   /LIH  KLVWRU\  nothing is known about its early stages.
                   Univoltine, confined to rocky slopes with sparse vegetation
                   (Hesselbarth et al., 1995(2): 815 fig 1). Recorded nectar
                   sources are flowers of  Centaurea spp. (Hesselbarth et
                   al., 1995(2): 831). Their biology should be similar to
                   their congeners, where the L1 overwinters and develops                                                                                                                                                    ©  Martin Wiemers
                   slowly, feeding on the freshly growing grasses, pupating
                   in spring and emerging in early summer.

                   5HFRUGHG  KRVWSODQWV  Poaceae (Gramineae) – various
                   grasses.



                   'LVWULEXWLRQ                                                                                                                              © Adam Warecki               © Dubi Benyamini

                   TL: “von der Südseite des Ararat” (S Ararat Mt, E Turkey).
                   Turkey, Armenia, NW Syria, N Iraq, Iran, W Afghanistan,
                   Pakistan, Baluchistan (?) and Turkmenistan(?). The
                   nominotypical ssp. flies in N Levant region of Turkey and
                   Syria (Atahan et al., 2018: 92; Eckweiler & Bozano 2011:
                   52; Tshikolovets, 2011: 349; Zarikian, 2016).








                                                                                                               ‹ 2ÀU 7RPHU                                   ©  Adam Warecki             ©  Martin Wiemers                   ©  Martin Wiemers

              60                                                                                                                                                                                                                          53




           2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd   60                                             12/30/2021   4:22:51 PM  2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd   53                                    12/30/2021   4:22:29 PM
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