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Hipparchia Fabricius, 1807                                                                                                                               1 1                                    1 1 1           1 1 1 1

                    With 10 species (26 in the genus) it is the largest
                    representative of the Levant’s Satyrinae (23% of 43
                    species).
                    In his famous revision Kudrna (1977) divided  Hipparcia
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                    to five subgenera all of which have representatives in the
                    Levant (Sbordoni et al.  2018: 49);                                  Aerial Pursuit
                    Subgenus  Hipparcia Fabricius, 1807: H. syriaca.
                    Subgenus  Parahipparchia Kudrna, 1977:  P.  pellucida,  P.
                    cypriensis, P. mersina & P. senthes.
 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 6 - B | 22-01-02 | 12:34:17 | SR:-- | Magenta
 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 6 - B | 22-01-02 | 12:34:17 | SR:-- | Yellow
                    Subgenus  Neohipparchia de Lesse, 1951:  N. statilinus &
 #21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 6 - B | 22-01-02 | 12:34:17 | SR:-- | Black
 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 6 - B | 22-01-02 | 12:34:17 | SR:-- | Cyan
                    N. fatua.
                    Subgenus  Pseudotergumia Agenjo, 1947:  P.  pisidice &  P.                                                                                        © Dubi Benyamini                       © Dubi Benyamini  © Dubi Benyamini
                    tewfiki.
                                                                                             a
                    Subgenus Euhipparchia Kudrna, 1977: E. parisatis.                       Fannigg                                                                          2 2 2                                                 2 2
                    &RXUWVKLS VHTXHQFH LQ Hipparchia VSS
                    Following perching and flight pursuit the couple land and
                    the ground courtship ritual starts comprising similar steps
                    that were observed by the author during breeding most of
                    Levant’s species. The few natural observations support our
                    belief that what we describe in the lab. is identical to the
                    natural process (Tinbergen, 1972; Pinzari, 2009). These
                    “ceremonies” consists of the following steps that could be
                    repeated several times as a complete or partial cycles:
                                                                                                                                                                      © Dubi Benyamini                                       © Dubi Benyamini
                    1 – After landing at proximity of a few cm. both stay                  Circling                                                                        subterranean pupal chambers
                    motionless for a few minutes.
                    2 - The male circles the sedentary female, often walking in
                    small “jumps”, sometimes vibrating its wings and possibly
                    release pheromones.
                    3 - The male stands in front of the female head to head,
                    bowing forwards & kneeling, his forewings “hug” the
                    female’s closed wings, vibrating his wings to release
                    pheromones.
                    In this “massage”:
                    3.1 – Accepting female holds her antennae within the   Antenna orientation                 Bowing & Kneeling
                    males wings.
                    3.2 – Rejecting female holds her antennae out of the males
                    “hugging” wings. At least on one occasion in H. fatua when
                    the male retreated the female started circling “happily”
                    while the male stood motionless “embarrassed”. In other
                    female’s rejection postures abdomens lowered, wings
                    were hold wide open, or flapping and not allowing male’s
                    advance.
                    4 – At mating attempt; a male approached perpendicular
                    to the female and turned to be side by side on the same
                                                                                           p
                    orientation but slightly backwards, then he bent his                 Copulation attempt
                    abdomen by 90 degrees sidewise towards the female’s
                    genitalia.
                    5 - Clasping (Tinbergen, 1972); the female genitalia is held
                    by the male claspers, and they turn face away with closed
                    wings during the copulation. If the male carries the female
                    in cop. his wings will be external while her wings are in-
                    between.

                    Tinbergen (1941, 1972 & Pinzari (2009) defined this
                    “Ethogram” as: 1 - “Fanning (F)” -  male’s pose of wings      Clasping                                  Mating
                                                                                  Clasping
                    vibration & exhibiting its  forewings ocelli. 2 – “Circling
                    (C)”, 3 -  “Bowing (B)”, 4 - “Antenna orientation (AO)”, 5 –
                    “Copulation attempt (CA)” and 6 – “Clasping (CL)”.
                    Similar stages of  Hipprchia’s courtship were observed in
                    other large Satyrinae e.g. Pseudochazara pelopea.                                                                 Cameras set-up and filming - Yaron Melech; H. fatua breeding plastic box with subterranean pupal chambers and climbing grasses - Dubi Benyamini.


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           2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd   86                                             12/30/2021   4:24:04 PM  2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd   91                                    12/30/2021   4:24:26 PM
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