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Hipparchia pellucida Stauder 1923 Anatolian Grayling

Flies in a variety of biotopes: light woodland, oak and
pine forests, sometimes showing a preference for densely
foliated isolated trees of Crataegus, Pyrus or Prunus spp.
and sometimes in fruit and Pistacea groves. In the heat
of the day, H. pellucida rests on the ground in the shade
of trees, rarely on trunks or in rock crevices. Adults have
been observed nectaring on flowers of Anchusa, Carduus © Dubi Benyamini
Globularia, Notobasis, and various Compositae spp. When
threatened they flew into spiny bushes or high branches DGXOW 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2
1
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4
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11
9
9
5
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10
HJJ
3-5 m over the ground to find shelter. Local migration of lar v a
pupa
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hundreds adults was observed in early June 1984 SE of HJJ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
lar v a
8OXGHUH úLUQDN +HVVHOEDUWK et al., 1995(2): 905). pupa
%LRORJ\ © Dubi Benyamini
)OLJKW SHULRG late May to October, 550-1900 m with mid-
summer aestivation (Hesselbarth et al., 1995(2): 906).
200-900 m; May-June in Hatay (Atahan et al., 2018: 79) and
0D\ : 1XUGDøL 6 *D]LDQWHS DW P %HQ\DPLQL
& Tomer, 2002).
/LIH KLVWRU\ univoltine. Eggs are laid singly in early autumn, Israel, Jerusalem, 1.5.1941
possibly from September. The fresh yellowish-white eggs
are low barrel-shaped, relatively small (0.7 mm in diameter,
0.9 mm in height) and have 24-30 longitudinal ribs. Egg
colour changes to grey after 8-10 days before hatching. L1
remains inactive until the growth of fresh grasses induced © Moshe Laudon
by autumn rains. When feeding resumes, larval colour
changes to green, with longitudinal brown, white and grey
stripes appearing as the larva matures feeding at night.
Pupation takes place the following spring 0.5-1 cm in the
soil, pupae are light brown, lying bottom up and the adult
eclosed after two weeks* (Hesselbarth et al., 1995(2):
906; Jutzeler et al., 1998). (*- usually four weeks in other Israel, Hermon, 1650m. 16.6.1973
Levant Hipparcia spp. bred by DB).
Early stages are possibly similar to those of its syster
species Hipparchia cypriensis.
5HFRUGHG KRVWSODQWV Festuca spp., Poa annua and other © Ali Atahan
Poaceae (Gramineae) spp. © Moshe Laudon
'LVWULEXWLRQ Jordan, Wadi Dana, 695 m. 23.5.1998

TL: “Terter [Mir-Baschir]” Azerbaijan). Greece (Ikaria &
Lesbos Islands), the Crimean Peninsula (Ukraine), S
7XUNH\ 0DUDû 0DUGLQ 8UID *D]LDQWHS DQG +DWD\ 6\ULD
Transcaucasia, N Iraq, Kurdistan and Iran (unrecorded from
Lebanon, Cyprus, Jordan and Sinai). (Tuzov et al., 1997:
240; Zarikian, 2016). A single male was collected by Uri
Pick on 23 May 1966 in Mt Adir (1008 m) N Israel 2.5 km
S Lebanon border, at the edge of a Mediterranean forest.
No more specimens of this isolated relict population were
observed or collected in N Israel and the whole C Levant,
and is now considered locally extinct. In the Israeli red list
of butterflies H. pelucida is rated as Not Applicable (NA) - no
breeding population in Israel (Renan et al., 2022 (in prep.))

© Mehmet Atahan © Dubi Benyamini © Ali Atahan

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2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd 98 12/30/2021 4:24:47 PM 2Butterflies of the Levant danaidae satyridae.indd 111 12/30/2021 4:25:21 PM