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Maniola jurtina (Linnaeus, 1758) Meadow Brown 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 4 - B | 22-01-02 | 12:34:17 | SR:-- | Cyan

This W Palaearctic genus comprises only four accepted
species; according to the latest nowadays DNA analysis
(Eckweiler & Bozano 2011: 14), three of them fly in the
Levant. Males hatch about a week before the females.
After mating (the female carries the male in cop.);
most of the males perish and the females aestivate
in shady places during summer months, reappearing
to oviposit from September until late October. Rare in
the northern boundaries of the Levant; at Hatay an old
record from 1975 and again a male near Antakya, 450 © Adam Warecki © Eddie John © Eddie John
m in June 2002 (Atahan pers. comm).

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pupa
)OLJKW SHULRG males eclose late May to July, females
in early June, mate and aestivate in mid-summer to
resuming flight in September – October. May-June,
100-800 m in Hatay before aestivation (Atahan et al.,
2018: 93 & pers. comm. to DB).
/LIH KLVWRU\ Univoltine. Egg laying is normally induced
by day length of 10 hours or less in Europe, ~ 12 hours
or less in the Levant and the beginning of autumn © Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini
rains. Average 500 eggs are laid by a single female
but long lived females that were fed artificially in lab
by sugar water and lived until February laid 1000
eggs. Eggs are usually laid singly, but on Mt Pilio
(Pelion) Thessalia, CW Greece, at the end of October,
a female was observed flying low (40-50 cm) over
grasses, dropping eggs every 0.5-1 m (John Coutsis,
per. comm.) in the manner of Melanargia titea.
The barrel-shaped, white egg is 0.6-0.7 mm in both
diameter and height, developing light brown markings
before eclosion. The 1 mm long L1 emerges after
12-30 days, depending on external temperatures,
eats the eggshell and is quiescent in autumn/winter,
diapausing until regrowth of fresh grass. Development
is slow until early summer. Larvae “must” climb up © Dubi Benyamini
the hostplant in the evening to start night feeding © Moshe Laudon © Moshe Laudon
and retreat in the morning to the base of the plant
for day stay. Breeding jurtina larvae in lab shallow
containers where they could not climb up-down the
hostplant was unsuccessful and most of them died.
The fully grown larva feeds at night, measures up to
30 mm in length, and is green, hairy with a mid-dorsal
dark green narrow line and two lateral white lines. The
17 mm long, variably coloured pupae, are plain green
or have dark stripes, and are formed low on grasses,
up to 20 cm above ground (Andrea Grill measured up
to 6 cm in her lab in Austria), hatching after 12-30
days (González Granados et al., 2009: 428; Lafranchis
et al., 2015: 612; Thomas & Lewington, 2014: 263, © Ali Atahan
Andrea Grill pers. info. to DB).
'LVWULEXWLRQ
&RPPHQVDOLVP ZLWK PLWHV M. jurtina is one of
fourteen Satyrines reprorted as associated with TL: North Africa. Widely distributed from the Canary Islands,
phoretic mites; it was identified by Asher (1975: 314) North Africa, Western Europe and S Scandinavia eastwards
as: ? Balaustium quisquiliarum, Trombidiformes - see across C & S Europe to W Siberia and from Italy, Balkans,
Commensalism parag. in Vol I. Turkey, Caucasus to N Iraq and N Iran. In the Levant, ssp.
janira (Linnaeus, 1758), TL. “C Europe”: found in Hatay and
5HFRUGHG KRVWSODQWV Poaceae (Gramineae) - Bromus, NW Syria but is unrecorded from Cyprus, Lebanon, Israel,
Festuca, Lolium, Poa and other spp. of grasses. Jordan and Sinai. © Stav Talal © Christodoulos Makris

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2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd 62 12/30/2021 4:22:54 PM 2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd 51 12/30/2021 4:22:15 PM