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Hypolimnas misippus (Linnaeus, 1764) Eggfly 'LVWULEXWLRQ

TL: Nahal Shezor, 206 m, Karmiel, C Galilee and Nahal
Widespread in Africa south of the Sahara and in most cross African jet stream that descended over sub-Saharan
parts of Arabia (Larsen, 1983: 430). The male is black Sahel in Chad – Sudan (Subsidence) (Benyamini & John, Zippori, 90 m, Tabbash-Ka’abiyya, Lower Galilee, Israel.
with an oval egg-like white patch with purple margins on 2020: 15; Benyamini & Müller, 2020) brought H. misippus Eastern coast of the Mediterranean countries Israel,
each wing’s ups, from which derives the common name, to S Arava, Israel where a male was observed sipping nectar Lebanon and Syria. DB did not find similar biotope
‘Eggfly’. H. misippus exhibits marked sexual dimorphism, from Zilla spinosa’s flower and photographed with a cell with Centaurea spp. in coastal Hatay, S Turkey around
the colours of the female dramatically differing from those phone by Kfir Arieli on 8 February 2019 in Kibbutz Lotan. 6DPDQGDø DQG WKH HVWXDU\ RI WKH 2URQWHV 5LYHU WR WKH
of the male and closely mimicking Danaus chrysippus in A day later a second male was video filmed by Dan Amnon Mediterranean. Atahan et al., (2018: 63) & pers. comm.
all its many forms (female-limited mimicry); black tips – f. in Eilat among numerous Vanessa cardui that drove it away to DB confirmed that he did not record a second brood
misippus L., orange dorippus - like f. inaria Cramer, white from a blossoming Z. spinosa bush (Arieli et al., 2019). of M. telona in coastal Hatay. Two species fly in the
uph f. alcippoides Butler, and the white dorippus f. albinus -RUGDQ a single female collected and two males observed in Levant; M. telona Fruhstorfer, 1908 TL: Jerusalem - a DGXOW
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1st gen. lar v a
is misippus f. dorippoides Aurivillius. Due to this similarity, Dana reserve, Edom, Jordan on 17 April 1998 together with single brooded sp. that is known from all countries of 2nd gen. lar v a 1 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
it is possible that observers have mistaken migrant female migrating V. cardui, D. chrysippus and J. hierta following the Levant except Cyprus and Sinai (Egypt) and M. klili 3r d gen. lar v a
pupa
H. misippus for D. chrysippus; indeed, male H. misippus RST tropical storm (Benyamini, 1998c & 2002a - illustr. 1). Benyamini 2021, TL: Shezor & Zippori rivulets Israel a
sometimes mistakenly court D. chrysippus females. Male /HEDQRQ On the 10th of September 1910 P. P. Graves bi to three-voltine sp. that is confined to wet biotopes in
flight is rapid and aggressive, while the female glides visited the misippus localities in Beirut between “Dora coastal plains and rivers of Israel, Lebanon and possibly
slowly like its mimic model, but if attacked is capable of Railway station…(and).. Beirut Water-Works at Dbayè” Syria, where its Centaurea iberica main host-plant is
rapid flight. Males are territorial low over ground (Kehimkar, (Dbayeh, 2 km S Nahr El Kalb) where “Signor Cremona” biennial+, April-July in bloom and green in most months
2008: 410), defending their territories for days (Kunte, took “one or two (misippus) every year” (at the beginning of the year allowing the species to breed in up to three
2000: 141), hilltopping (Woodhall, 2005: 128) and “come of the 20th century) “but it was in all probability too late annual “generations”.
to damp patches (mud puddling), at least occasionally” for the species, I saw none” (Graves, 1911). This first-hand
(Larsen, 1991: 339). An exceptional swarm migration description and the specimens in coll. Talhouk collected by (W\PRORJ\ Called after the Klil Butterfly Park within
during world-war I (February, 1917) of “many thousands of Brother Cremona (Larsen, 1974: 114) are possibly the only Klil Industries Ltd. in the industrial zone of Karmiel city,
this species six hundred miles off Mosamedes (Angola) in evidence of its existence near Beirut (nowadays within the Galilee, Israel – dedicated to the preservation of the
the South Atlantic Ocean. Many came aboard the troopship city) in the early 1900’s and the whole 20th century. About local butterfly fauna and its endangered population of
© Dubi Benyamini
Omrah…” was reported by Stoneham (1965). Unreceptive 100 years later Merit & Merit (2007) collected a single Melitaea klili. N Israel, Nahal Tzipori 2.7.2018
females reject males by sudden drop into vegetation or fly female on 6 April 2003 at Kfar Aabida, 10 km SE Batroun
vertically up, following sudden dive to surface and escape in -illustr. 2, it possibly originated in Egypt and was carried to
low and fast flight. Population decline in coastal W African coastal N Lebanon by one of the said weather systems.
Ghana was reported by Menash & Kudom (2011). &\SUXV on 28.8.1936 a slightly worn male was collected in
6XGDQ (J\SW first recorded in the wider Levant in coastal Limassol, southern coast of Cyprus, by Prof, Bytinski-Salz © Dubi Benyamini
Red Sea and the White Nile of Sudan (Sharpe, 1897 & (B-S) who wrote on its original label: “Never / taken / before
Longstaff, 1912), then recorded from upper Egypt north from / Limassol / by me ! ” (Black ink hand written). And on
to the Nile Delta (Longstaff, 1912; Andres & Seitz, 1923; additional printed label: “Limassol / Cyprus/ 28.8.1936 /
Wiltshire, 1948; Roell, 1959: Larsen, 1990 and Gilbert & Bytinski. Salz”. He donated his insect collection to the Dept Paratypes designation: n - total number of types
Zalat, 2007), Gebel Elba (Hassan & Fadl, 2000). However it of Zoology Tel Aviv University in 1983 three years before PT no. - Paratype serial numbers Ļ Ļ Ļ
is poorly represented in Egyptian entomological collections his death in June 1986. This overlooked specimen from
with only three specimens in coll. Ministry of Agriculture Bytinski private collection was found by DB on 2 September
Cairo - last specimen collected on 8 August 1962 in Tanata 2015 in Tel Aviv University Entomological department and
(Tanta), Gharbeya (Gharbia), Nile Delta (Gilbert, pers. is now in coll. Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Ramat © Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini
comm.). Larsen (1990: 55) last “found it common on Gezira Aviv, Tel Aviv (Benyamini, 2020g & 2021a – illustr.3).
Island, Cairo in December, 1970”. Not surprisingly the high 7XUNH\ a single female from Kizkalesi, (Içel) Akdeniz/
Nile dam, as-Sad al-’Aali, in Aswan that was completed on Mersin Prov., S Mediterranean coast, 56 km SW Mersin, 10
21 July 1970 and Lake Nasser Reservoir reached capacity m, Turkey in mid April 1993 (Hesselbarth et al., 1995(2):
in 1976 practically blocked the Eggfly migration to lower 1015) marks the most northern known Eggfly migrant in the
Egypt because no more records are available from the Nile Levant, 1000+ km along E Mediterranean coast from the
Delta in the next fifty years to present. It was never recorded Nile Delta, its possible origin.
from the Sinai Peninsula that is located in-between two
migration corridors: the Nile in the West and West Arabian
coast in the east (Benyamini, 1984, 1988 & 2021a). %LRORJ\ © Oshri Nefrastek © Dubi Benyamini
/HYDQW DQG ,VUDHO A very rare African migrant, with a few © Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini
specimens, mostly males, appearing in the Levant where its )OLJKW SHULRG migrating specimens have been observed
appearance seems to be correlated with weather systems; between February and July.
1) Red Sea Troughs (RST) carrying migrating specimens
from the Arabian Peninsula and Ethiopia/Sudan northwards /LIH KLVWRU\ described elsewhere: polyvoltine, “female © Dubi Benyamini
along the Red Sea Rift Valley (Benyamini, 2002a; Levi, scratches for suitable plants on which to lay its eggs….
2006) . 2) Alternatively, specimens may have their origins Occasionally an egg is laid on the “wrong” plant, but close
in the Nile region and are carried to the East Mediterranean to the larval food plant...the newly emerged larva has © Dubi Benyamini
coast by North African hot depressions moving eastwards no difficulty locating the correct plant quickly.” (van der
– such weather systems explaining the appearance of Poorten & van der Poorten, 2016: 254). Conic pale-green
singleton males in coastal Mediterranean Israel: Herzliya eggs with flat top and fourteen vertical ribs are laid singly
(29 July 1947), Ashdod (July 1987, August 1988), Hadera or in small batches of 3-6 eggs on the underside of leaves
(28 May 1992) and Tel Aviv (July-August 1996) (Benyamini, (Kunte, 2000: 141; Kehimkar, 2008: 410). Larvae are
1992b & 1997c). 3) However, in early February 2019 a rare nocturnal and hide during day to avoid predators, they are © Leah Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini
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