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August; another female, collected on the same day,   & Katchalski, 1935; Bodenheimer, 1937). Likely tiny                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 6 - A | 22-01-02 | 12:34:17 | SR:-- | Cyan   #21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21
 commenced laying 70 days later, at the end of October.   relict populations in the high, inaccessible cliffs of
 All eggs were laid singly on dry grasses or on the walls of   S Sinai Massif and possibly Edom, Jordan indicate an
 breeding cages, possibly simulating egg laying on rocks   insecure future and call for the species to be officially
 and stones in the wild. White when laid, eggs are barrel-  protected there. Despite searches of the Kantara
 shaped with 14 vertical ribs, 0.8-0.9 mm high, 0.7-0.8   range,  persephone has not been seen in Cyprus since
 mm maximum diameter, and turn grey before eclosion.   2010; its status there is uncertain. Indeed, a marginal
 L1 emerges after 8-12 days, eats the eggshell, except   existence across the Levant, coupled with the species’
 the base. L1 is 1.6-2.0 mm long, light greyish-brown with   cryptic nature implies that we may never be certain if                                                                                                                                              6
 a pink tint, and has a mid-dorsal row of brown spots,   persephone has completely disappeared from any of
 sub-dorsal wider pinkish-brown bands, and lateral rows   its remaining footholds in the region. Unlike at other   © Aadam Warecki  © Wolfgang Wagner
 of tiny brown spots. The whole body is covered with short   Levant localities,  persephone, once rare in the 1970s
 setae. L1 nibbled on green blades of Poa, Brachypodium   on Mt Hermon (Nakamura & Benyamini, 1980), became                          DGXOW
                  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10  11  12
                                                1
                                             91
                                                    1
                                                 0
                                                 0
                               HJJ  1    2    3     4     6  7  8  9  9   10  1 1  12
 and Piptatherum spp. that were provided, larval colour   the second most common large satyrine there (after                 lar v a
                  pupa
 changed to green. By mid-December, all were in diapause   P.  pelopea) in the 21st century. The Syrian population
 in stages L1-L3, although it appeared that those L1 that   is also ‘not rare in Syrian Anti Lebanon and even near
 had not fed, died before fresh grass was available. The   Slenfeh’ (Wolfgang ten Hagen, pers. comm. to DB).
 following spring, L5 grew to ca. 35 mm, becoming brown,   Slenfah (Slunfeh, Slenfah) (1150 m) is located on the
 with segments bearing four dark brown longitudinal   eastern Slopes of the Syrian coastal range, 36 km E of
 lines, two of which extend to the forehead. The pupa is   /DWDNLD DQG    NP 6 RI <D\ODGDøL  +DWD\  6 7XUNH\  5DWHG
 ca. 17 mm long, the thorax and abdomen reddish-brown   EN in the Israeli Butterfly red list (Renan et al., 2022,   © Wolfgang Wagner
 and the wing cases, ochre. Pupates ventral side up and   (in prep.)).
 hatches after 3-5 weeks.
 5HFRUGHG  KRVWSODQWV  Poaceae (Gramineae). On Mt   'LVWULEXWLRQ
 Hermon, it shares the same hostplants as  P.  pelopea:
 Dactylis glomerata, Elymus libanoticus,  Bromus,   TL: “Russland, bei Sarepta”, near Volgograd, S Russia.
 Aegilops and Poa spp.   Distributed from Turkey (not recorded yet from Hatay –
 Atahan et al., 2018) to Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and
 &RQVHUYDWLRQ  in slow decline in the Levant, having   Sinai, N & W Iran, N Iraq to Baluchistan, Afghanistan,
 disappeared from Mt Carmel, Haifa, N Israel (where   S Russia, C Asia and W Siberia. Based on photographic
 specimens were collected by the German Templers,   evidence of a single specimen found in Cyprus, the
 Keller and Lange at the end of the 19th century (von   species’ continued presence there has been tentatively   © Aadam Warecki
 Kalchberg, 1897; Graves, 1925), and from Jerusalem/  accepted (John et al., 2011 and DB pers. comm) as C.
 Palestine, where a specimen was collected on 7.8.1945    persephone reaches its southern Levant limit in S Sinai.
 by Prof. Bytinski-Salz. The latter specimen is now in the   Ssp. C. p. transiens Zerny, 1932; TL: N Lebanon flies in
 national collection at the Steinhardt Museum of Natural   the Levant.
 History, Ramat Aviv, Israel (Amsel, 1933; Bodenheimer




 Migrating adult in Kiryat Tivon,  3 km from Mt Carmel, N Israel, 20 May 2020.  © Aadam Warecki  © Wolfgang Wagner











 Ļ                   NW Syria, Jabel el Ansariye NE Latakia                                       © Aadam Warecki

                           H. s. statilinus
                          1300-1500 m, 04.08.1999
                         1300-1500 m, 04.08.1999











 © Shalev Weisman  © Marva Shmueli               © Dubi Benyamini                                 © Aadam Warecki

 84                                                                                                           93




 2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd   84  12/30/2021   4:23:58 PM  2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd   93  12/30/2021   4:24:33 PM
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