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LEPIDOPTERA

Melitaea acraeina Staudinger, 1886
Melitaea acraeina Staudinger, 1886

• TYPE LOCALITY. «Kokand; Fergana» [Kokand and Fergana, Fergana Valley, Uzbekistan].

• DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. Fergana Valley.

• HABITATS AND BIOLOGY. Narrow sides of canals and other streams in desert and semi-desert biotopes of the Fergana Valley. Flight period: April to June, in one, probably even two generations. The butterflies flying poorly, the confinement to the above habitats is strict. Host plant: Dodartia orientalis. According to Kreutzberg (1997), eggs are laid in chains of 20-30 on the host plant stem. Larvae of instars 2-3 live in a nest, resting in a summer-winter diapause in the soil near the host plant. Next spring they begin to feed on subterranean sprouts of this plant. In laboratory conditions, larvae can eat Plantago. Mature larvae are white in colour and live openly. Pupation on the underside of different plant remains.

 

Photo and text: Guide to the BUTTERFLIES OF RUSSIA and adjacent territories Volume 2. PENSOFT, Sofia - Moscow. 2000