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Polygonia egea (Cramer, 1775) Southern Comma
Flies in a variety of habitats, especially hilly areas, where it may often
be seen basking in the sun. In urban areas, P. egea frequently alights
to bask on walls, old houses and archaeological sites, particularly
where its hostplants grow. This species is recognized by its orange-
# and dark brown head. The growing larva that hides under
brown colour, deeply scalloped wing appearance and typical flight - a
combination of fluttering and gliding. The ‘comma’ marking on the
hindwing underside is more ‘V’-shaped than in P. c-album. A territorial
species, males site head down in their perches 10-50 metres apart,
day after day up to 36 consecutive days, they return to their point of
21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 11 - A | 21-12-30 | 11:34:48 | SR:-- | Magenta
21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 11 - A | 21-12-30 | 11:34:48 | SR:-- | Yellow
#21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 11 - A | 21-12-30 | 11:34:48 | SR:-- | Black
21603-BRACHA-PARPAR - 21603-BRACHA-PARPAR | 11 - A | 21-12-30 | 11:34:48 | SR:-- | Cyan
origin after intercepting other butterflies entering their territory. But will
intercept other congener males in spiralling flight up to ten meters high.
7
7
5
4
6
5
4
6
HJJ 1
Rarely mud puddle (Moshe, 2016). Male’s hilltopping recorded in the lar v a
pupa
Golan Heights at Mt Bental 1100 m on 5 May 2004 (Avni, 2004), Mt
Hermon Anti-Lebanon peak at 2814 m on 15 June 1974 (DB pers. obs.),
Mt Hermon local peaks at 1850 m (Talal, 20 June 2009d), 2050-2100
m (Pe’er, G. 12 June 2003; Benyamini & Tomer, 7 July 2007; Benyamini,
12 June 2009e; Benyamini, 11 July 2016e and almost every year near
Israel,
the Hermon battle monument at 2050 m), 2150 m (Benyamini et al., Jerusalem,
2 July 2005) and on top of Gebel Barouk, overlooking Lake (reservoir) 23.5.1981
Qaraoun, S Lebanon, 1990 m, 9 July 1982 (DB pers. obs, - illustr. 1).
Adults hibernate in winter until late January or February. In late autumn
(October-November) there are occasional sightings of adults dispersing
to warmer lower areas at internal coastal valleys e.g. near Ben-Gurion
international airport Lod, C Israel a specimen was photographed by DB
on a red flower of Lantana camara on 3 November 2002 (Benyamini, Mt Hermon,
2003h & illustr. 2). They descend eastwards to Samarian and Judean 2600 m.
deserts (e.g. near Nokdim, 17 November 2017 (Kirshenbaum, 2018c)) 22.6.1974
and as low as the Dead Sea coast at about 380 metres below sea-level
(e.g. 5 km south of Wadi Kidron estuary to the Dead Sea on 25 January
b
.
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1975.) where they are active in warm January mid-winter days (DB pers.
obs, & illustr. 3) and again after their hibernation when they wake up in
early spring (e.g. Ein Gedi, 20 February 2007 Schwartz-Tzachor (illustr.
4); Ein Fashkha, 24 March 1989 DB). The dark form j-album appears
usually at high elevations and is dominant at the Anti-Lebanon; a form Israel, ,
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l
found in Turkey and the Middle East. The southern comma used to fly in W Yehiam
iam
m.
the old city of Jerusalem, often observed on its famous historic walls but 170 m.
971
now mostly disappeared from this typical egea biotope and is in a strong 12.6.1971
decline all over Israel (DB field & breeding notes; Lafranchis et al., 2015:
448-451). Rated Endangered (EN) in the Israeli Red List of Butterflies
due to its small population size & decline (Renan et al. 2022, (in prep.)).
%LRORJ\ Israel,
Dead-Sea
Coast, -380 m
)OLJKW SHULRG January to November, depending on location and elevation; (bsl), 5 km S of
-380 m bsl (Ein Gedi, Dead Sea coast) to 2814 m at Mt Hermon peak, Nahal Kidron
Israel; May-July sl-1900 m in Hatay, S Turkey (Atahan et al. 2018: 54 & 25.1.1975
pers. comm. to DB); February – September sl “to the highest peaks” in 3 pers. comms. to DB).
Lebanon (Larsen, 1974: 120); 2300-2400 m in Al-Lazzab reserve Syrian Overwintering female
Anti-Lebanon (Zarikian & Ghrejyan, 2018); March-November -300 m
bsl (Ghawr Kabid, lower Jordan valley) to over 1000 m in C & N Jordan
(Larsen & Nakamura, 1983; Katbeh-Bader et al., 2003).
S Lebanon,
Gebel
/LIH KLVWRU\ polyvoltine. Males hatch two days before females, but Barouk
mate only three days later. During these three days female reject male 1990 m.
advace by lifting her abdomen between closed wings, turns head to 9.7.1982
head towards the male, flipping her wings or flying away, Mating that
started on 29 September 2020 between 14:00 and 18:00 lust at least 1 through Italy, Hungary, Czech Republic, Greece (present on
until 21:00, while female carried the male in cop. She laid first eggs two
days later. During the next nine days until 10.10.2020 she laid between
13 to 32 eggs every day and 152 in total. Eggs are laid one at a time, up
to seven (not continuously) on the upper surface of an hostplant’s leaf
usually close to its edges, barrel shape tapered upwards, 0.7-1.0 mm
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11 high and 0.7 mm max. diameter, are semi-glossy green
with 9-12 (average 10) vertical thin ribs, before hatching,
its third upper part turns black. L1 emerges after 4-7 days
in the summer but two weeks in spring, it cuts and lifts the
upper cap of the egg to come out and does not eat its lower © Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini
shell, is 2 mm long, greenish-brown with black long hairs
© Dubi Benyamini
the leaves “cleans” LHP branches by eating the leaves
first, then the flower buds and the flowers leaving bare
stalks that marks its position on the hostplant. The mature
larva is up to 35 mm long. grey-brown with black markings,
yellow – grey - transparent branched spines, orange wavy © Leah Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini © Leah Benyamini
side lines, white circles with black centres on the sides
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9
9
1
8
0
1
1
0
1
8
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 marking the spiracles and orange head (see details in
the next page). L5 pupates on stiff walls, inside small
wall caves/hollows 25 cm to 3 meters above the ground,
seldom on the LHP. “J” shaped suspended pre-pupa is 17-
18 mm long, 12-14 hours later a 20-21 mm long and 8 mm
wide pupa is formed, light grey to light-brown or light gold in © Leah Benyamini © Dubi Benyamini
colour. Adult hatches after 6-10 days in June—September,
15 days in October and about 24 days in late October to
mid-November. Overwinters as an adult; three adults that
hatched in an outside breeding cage in Beit Arye (340 m, C
Israel plateaux) on 7 November 2020 between 09:00 and
11:00 started overwintering diapause by hiding in a dry
hollow under horizontal stone during rainy, cloudy, windy
and cold days but coming out to busk on sunny days (DB
breeding notes, Eisenstein, 2000: 202, Affranchise et al.,
© Leah Benyamini © Leah Benyamini © Leah Benyamini
2015: 448-451).
3UHGDWRUV Larvae are attacked by the larva-pupa Tachinid
f. j-albumm fly Sturmia bella that hatch from the pupae. On 13
September 2020 at Nabi Samwil many empty (hatched)
eggs without signs of leaves consumption by young larvae
suggest that L1s are attacked and eaten by ants that are
common in warm sunny places of the biotope.
&RQVHUYDWLRQ cleaning of old buildings walls in France © Leah Benyamini
destroyed Perietaria judaica hostplants and egea early
stages in its preferred biotopes, however after stopping 2 4 4 4
this destruction egea did not return (Lafranchis, pers.
comm.). A similar “cleaning” happened in Nabi Samwil
(Tomb of Samuel historic site, 880 m 10 minutes by car
NNW of Jerusalem), one of the last holds of egea in Israel.
The holly site’s manager disliked the “dirty” look of the old
walls and cleaned it with electric scythe. It was too late for
the Israeli lepidopterists Society to stop him and we hope
that egea will return when its wall hostplants will grow
again (Eran Benyamini, Dudu Ben-Or and Moshe Laudon
© Dubi benyamini © Racheli Shwarz-Tsachor
5HFRUGHG KRVWSODQWV Urticaceae - Parietaria judaica, P.
alsinifolia, P. cretica, P. lusitanica,
'LVWULEXWLRQ
TL: Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey). The species’
distribution ranges across S Europe from the French Riviera
many Mediterranean islands, but surprisingly absent from
Cyprus) to Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan (absent from
Sinai), and east to N India and C Asia. Reaching its southern
Levant’s distribution limit in Arad (630 m, 31°15.5’N) NE
©Dubi Benyamini 1HJHY ,VUDHO 7KH QRPLQRW\SLFDO VVS ÁLHV LQ WKH /HYDQW © Dubi Benyamini
169