Familia
PIERIDAE
Leptidea
amurensis (Ménétriés,1859)
The
geographical variability has not been investigated sufficiently. The brown
scales on the UNS of the spring butterflies have attracted the attention of
Graeser, who has described the variation vernalis Graeser, 1892
from Blagoveshchensk. The tрxa emisinapis
Verity, 1911 (Pribaykalye),
vibiloides
Verity, 1911 (Priamurye) are similar to amurensis. The butterflies
with unique features were described for the C. Yakutia.
Leptidea
amurensis jacutia P.Gorbunov et Korshunov, ssp. n. (fig. 1,
2)
Translation
of the original description:
лButterflies
from the Central Yakutia are notable for a noticeable yellowish tint on the UPS
and more intensive, than in other ssp., ochre suffusion on the UNH and
especially at the apex and along the fore margin of the FW. These characters let
us establish a ssp. Leptidea amurensis jacutia
P. Gorbunov et Korshunov, ssp. n.
MATERIALS:
Holotype: ♂ Ц 2.06.1985, Yakutsk, the botanical garden (V. Dubatolov).
Paratypes: ♂ Ц 21.06.1962, the same locality; 2 ♂♂ - 28.05.
1985, the same locality; ♂ - 2.06.1985 the same locality.╗
Origin:
Dnevnye babochki, Ekaterinburg, 1995,
p. 56.
Pontia daplidice (Linnaeus,1758)
The
geographical variability is at the beginning of its investigation. There is too
little evidence about the single specimens from S. Primorye to warrant any
conclusions. Perhaps, the form orientalis
Kardakov, 1928 is a ssp. of daplidice
and not of edusa.
The description of a find from the Ural region is cited below:
Pontia daplidice
kulyginskyi Korshunov,
1998
Translation
of the original description:
л...The
discovery of the taxon which we describe below belongs to an Uralian colleague
E. A. Kulyginsky. When sending us these miniature butterflies he persuaded us
much to pay a special attention to them. All this took place still before
discussion of the publications devoted to the differences between daplidice and edusa.
That time he stressed that in the Chelyabinsk Distr. in 1975-1979 he met the
exclusively large form of the sp. And only at the station Bredy in 1978 in
August he found small butterflies which he at first visually confused with some
light blues. Having received these small imagines in 1977 we found them similar
with those small specimens which were regularly observed by us in spring and
autumn in the Novosibirsk Distr. Check of these materials nowadays have showed a
difference: only the butterflies from the South Urals are close to daplidice,
and we describe them in the memory of Evgenii Aleksandrovich Kulyginskii as Pontia
daplidice kulyginskyi Korshunov,
ssp. n.
FWl.:
17-20 mm.
HOLOTYPE:
a male, above and beneath its pattern, as well as that of the paratypes, little
differ from edusa,
but one can note that the discal spot have a central lightening.
ALLOTYPE:
a female, which also resembles edusa,
but it, as well as the paratypes, has a black pattern on the UPH more developed
and has no dark stripe at outer margin at ventral angle in front of the black
rounded spots. Among the paratypes a female is conspicuous with the FWl. of 22
mm, in which a dark suffusion is developed on the FW extending from the apical
black spots to the middle of the cell, while on the UNF such a suffusion is
expressed only at the cell. The UNH is also of an aberrant nature as almost
entire its surface is densely suffused with yellowish-green scales, white spots
being hardly noticeable in the center of the wing and well expressed only along
the margin.
MATERIALS:
Holotype - ♂, 15.08.1978, Bredy, steppe, E. A. Kulyginsky. Holotype Ч
♀, 15.08.1978, the same label. Paratypes - five ♂♂ and three
♀♀ - 16.08.1978, a steppefied forest border at station Bredy.
In
spring 1997 on 19th May in the Orenburg Nature Reserve, in the
Burtinskaya Steppe, a male with the FWl. of 19 mm was collected by our colleague
I. Lyubechansky. This was a first corroboration of a reality of the ssp.
described.╗
Origin:
Dopolnenie 2, Novosibirsk, 1998, pp.
12-13, t. 7 a, с.
Euchloe ausonia (Hübner,
1804) (= simplonia Freyer, 1828)
We
suppose that in the South Ural there are butterflies of the ssp. volgensis Krulikowsky,
1897 (TL is neibourhoods of Saratov; it was described on the basis of several
large summer imagines). The small spring butterflies are known as uralensis
Bartel, 1902. Those and the other forms have a rather large black discal spot on
the FW which is rather large in comparison with ausonia.
We describe the butterfly from Altai.
Translation
of the original description:
л...The
butterflies from Altai, described below, differ from the western ssp. by a faded
muddy-green UNH ground colour and smaller white spots. By these and other traits
they look like a peculiar transition (especially in the population of the Chuya
River valley) to E.
naina.
HOLOTYPE:
a male. FWl. 22 mm. The UPS are white; the FW apex is dusted with dark scales,
the suffusion containing three white spots; the dark discoidal spot is
crescent-shaped. The UNF are white, the dark discoidal spot with a contrasted
light discoidal vein; the apex is dusted with dark and green scales and has the
same white spots as on the upperside; the costal margin with short black striae.
The UNH are greyish-green with white spots of different sizes, mainly with sharp
edges.
ALLOTYPE:
a female. FWl. 23 mm. The UPS is white; the dark discoidal spot is large,
concave on its sides, and, as different from E.
n. naina [an error ― must be E.ausonia
ausonia, ― Yu.K.], is not fused [along suffused veins] with the
apical suffusion, which contains three elongate white spots.
MATERIALS:
the holotype: ♂, Altai, Katunskiy mt. range, 15 km SW of village Katanda,
interfluve of the Kuragan and Kucherla rivers, alpine meadow, 2300 m, 13th
July 1983 (V.V.Dubatolov leg.); the allotype: ♀, the same locality, 14th
July 1983 (V.V.Dubatolov leg.);paratypes: Altai, UstТ-Kan Distr., Karlinskiy
Pass, 15th July 1970 (Kosinykh leg.); ♂ - the same locality as
for the holotype, 12th July 1983 ( V.V.Dubatolov leg.); 1 ♂1
♀- Katunskiy mt. range, the KatunТ river headwaters at the Kapchal river
mouth, 1700 m, 9th July 1987 (O.Kosterin leg.); ♂ - the Kapchal
valley, 2300 m, 10th July 1987 (O.Kosterin leg.); 2 ♂ ♂1
♀ - the KatunТ headwaters, terrain
Altyn-Bulak, an old felled land, 1800 m, 13th July 1987 (O.Kosterin
leg.); ♂ - KatUNWkiy mt. range, lower reaches of the Koksu river, 1600 m,
2th July 1988 (O.Kosterin leg.); ♂ -left bank of the Koksu river, long-forb
meadow on wood opening, 1900 m, 12th July 1988 (O.Kosterin leg.); 1
♂ 2 ♀ - the Argem ( Direntay ) river ( a tributary of the Koksu )
headwaters, an alpine meadow, 2200 m, 21th July 1988 (O.Kosterin leg.); ♂,
the Kholzun mt. range, the watershed of the Tigirek and Khamir river headwaters,
2300 m, 17th July 1983 (V.A.Lukhtanov leg.).
The
ssp. is named after the surname of Vladimir Vladimirovich [must be Viktorovich
instead of Vladimirovich ― Yu. K.], an entomologist of ISEA (Novosibirsk),
who collected a part of the type series of the new ssp.╗
Origin:
Dnevnye babochki, Ekaterinburg, 1995,
p. 62.
Euchloe naina (V.
Kozhantshikov, 1923) (= simplonia auct., nec Boisduval, 1828, belia auct., nec Cramer, 1782)
In
the southern mountains live the butterflies of the ssp. naina.
In Yakutia, near Magadan and in Kamchatka the ssp. jakutia
Back, 1990 is widespread;
it is smaller than naina,
in many females the wings have a yellowish tint. From the northern latitudes we
describe the ssp.kusnezovi.
Euchloe naina
kusnezovi Korshunov, 1995
Translation
of the original description:
л...Below
we describe the butterflies from the Yenisei River low reaches, Taymyr, and the
Putorana Plateau. They are closer to the ssp. naina than to jacutia,
but differ from the former by in average more narrow wings and a darker UNH
ground colour.
HOLOTYPE:
a male. FWl. 22 mm. The UPS is white; the FW costal margin from the base to the
discoidal vein is dusted with black scales, further to the apex there are
alternating black and white patches along the margin; the discoidal vein is
accompanied by a figured dark spot which is to some extent more rounded than
this in E. naina naina.
At the apex there are a dark stripe 2-3 mm wide, which is parallel to the outer
edge, and dark spots at the vein endings at the edge; the space between the
stripe and the edge being generally white while in E.
naina naina they are almost fully suffused. On the UNF the dark
discoidal spot is larger than in E.
n . naina. The UNH is almost exactly identical to that of E.
n. naina, but the veins are not so conspicuous.
ALLOTYPE:
a female. FWl. 23 mm. On the UPS the white ground colour is almost displaced by
a dark suffusion, the white areas remaining only in the centre and at the edges
of wings.The UNH ground colour is greyish-green without a dark suffusion; the
veins are not contrasted.
MATERIALS:
the holotype - the Yenisei lower reaches, the Irbo-Keta river middle flow, 18th
July 1982 (D.M.Pupavkin leg); allotype Ц the same locality, 21st
July 1982; paratypes: 5 ♂♂ 3 ♀♀ - the Yenisey lower
reaches, the Rybnaya river middle flow, 12th - 21st July
1982 ♂ - the Yenisey lower reaches, the Togbym river middle flow, 12th
July 1982; 14 ♂♂ 11 ♀♀ - the Yenisey lower reaches, the
Irbo-Keta river middle flow, 18th July 1982 ( D.M.Pupavkin leg.);
♂ - Taymyr, the Ary-Mas forest, July 1983 (Polovinkina leg.)
The
ssp. being describing was earlier reported in [Korshunov, 1985] as E. ausonia arctica, as it
was designated in the labels by Nikolay Yakovlevich Kusnezov ( 1873-1948), a
well-known Russian lepidopterologist and zoogeographist of the first half of
this century.╗
Origin:
Dnevnye babochki, Ekaterinburg, 1995,
p. 63.
NOTE.
A similar butterfly was caught near the v. Sidorovsk on the Taz R.. [The Red
Book of the Jamalo-Neneztki National Reg., 1997]. Our colleague V. K. Tuzov in
the book л Butterflies of Russia╗, v. 1, 1997 consideres the ssp. kusnezovi disputable and
assumes it as a synonym to the ssp. occidentalis
Verity, 1908. I note that
occidentalis
lives in Algeria, France, Spain, N. Italy, and it cannot be related to Siberia.
Colias palaeno (Linnaeus,
1761)
The
individual variability obviously masks the geographical one. In the Urals and in
the forest zone of the W. Siberia dwell the butterflies similar to palaeno.
In the tundra and the forest-tundra of the W. Siberia they are similar to lapponica
Staudinger, 1871; within the populations prevail the lighter males with a narrow
dark border of wings. To the east of Yenissei in the middle zone, in Priamurye
and in Primorye there is widespread occurrence of the ssp. orientalis
Staudinger, 1892.
It is similar to the European form europomene
and is distinct from the nominotypical ssp. by virtue the generally smaller size
of the bright lemon-yellow colouring of the UPS in the males and a wider dark
bordering. The females are greenish-white; the UNS have a thick coating of brown
scales, whereas the males are noteworthy for the green scales on the UNS. For
the northern lowlands of the E. Siberia there are attestations of the ssp. arctica
Verity, 1908 (the place of capture is the valley of the Vitim R., see table
49, photo 21 in the book by Verity), the butterflies are a little bit smaller
than orientalis.
A. I. Kurentzov (1970) indicates for the high mountains in S. Sikhote-Alin the
Korean ssp. sugitani Esaki,
1929; the lemon-yellow male is remarcable for a black border that is
almost twice as wide as than the border of orientalis. The females
have several lengthwise light stripes. In Sakhalin dominate males with
pale-yellow upper colouring and dense brown scales on the UNH. They are
described as sachalinensis Matsumura,
1919. There are peculiar butterflies in Chukotka.
Colias palaeno
gomojunovae Korshunov, 1996 (fig. 1, 2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8)
Translation
of original description:
л...It
was Kurentzov [Kurentzov, 1970] who first noticed that Chukotka is inhabited by
a peculiar variety of palaeno, but he thought that it is identical to the Alaskan
form, designed by him as schippewa
(lapsus calami ― Yu. K.) instead of chippewa Edw. However, the
males of chippewa resemble our specimens only by the UPS, but the
butterflies are much more yellow above and the marginal band is wider and is not
cut through by light veins; the UNS is more greenish, the discal spots are
absent or hardly noticeable only on the FW. In the females from Alaska I have
studied 7 males and 3 females from there: the black discal spots are seen above
and beneath, the ground colour is yellowish. The females from Chukotka have a
yellowish-white ground colour and no discal spots. There is also a difference in
the genitalia, that was mentionned by Kurentzov [Kurentzov, 1970]. By these
characters we describe a new ssp.:
Colias
palaeno gomojunovae
Koshunov, ssp. n.
HOLOTYPE:
a male. FWl.20 mm. The UPS is yellowish green, the marginal band on the FW is
wider than on the HW, the colour of the marginal band is brownish, the band is
not cut through by light veins. There is no discal spot on the UPF, but it is
slightly seen on the underside of both wings. The UNH is yellowish green, with
scattered grey scales. The UNF is of the same colour, but grey scales present
only at the costal margin. On the UNH the silvery spot large, its diameter
approximately equals to the length of elongate (and also silvery) spot on the
transversal vein.
ALLOTYPE:
a female. FWl. 21 mm. The UPS is yellowish-white. The marginal band at the apex
is relatively wide, it is tapering to the ventral angle, forming a kind of a
triangle. Light spots present only in its wide part. On theHW there is only a
narrow marginal streak at the fore angle. The discal spots are missing.
The
UNH is muddy green, a silvery spot is smaller than in the male, there is an
additional tiny round spot above it. On the UPF there is only traces of the
discal spot, the apex is of the same colour as the HW, the rest part of the wing
is light. In the male paratypes the marginal band is distinctly cut through by
light veins only in 3 of 7 specimens, which are worn out, in fresh specimens it
is darker and is covered with silvery scales becoming worn out later.
MATERIALS:
The holotype: ♂ - 30.07.1968, the Magadan Region, The Bilibino Distr. (N.
Gomoyunova); the allotype: ♀ Ц 12.07.1968, the left bank of the
Khoroshaya River, a tributary of the Molondzha River, herbs/dwarf birches and
willows/cloudberry (N. Gomojunova). Paratypes: 2 ♂♂s - 3 and
15.07.1967, the settlement Markovo on the AnadyrТ River (A.G. Mirzaeva); 2
♂♂ 1 ♀ - 12 and 13.07.1968, the Khoroshaya River left bank;
♂ - 19.07.1969, the Molondzha River floodland; 2 ♂♂ 2
♀♀ - 10 and 14.07.1969, the Magadan Region, the Kegali River, a
larch parkland with the dwarf birches and willows; 2 ♂♂ - 25.07 1nd
2.08.1986, West Chukotka, [the settelment] UstТ-Chaun, 100 km south of Pevek
(V. Dubatolov).
The
ssp. is dedicated to the memory of Nina Petrovna Gomojunova (1933-1973) ―
an entomologist and parasitologist of the Biological Institute of Siberian
Division of the Academy of Sciences, who collected in Chukotka following the
nomadic rain-deer breeders. She tragically perished in an aircraft catastrophe.╗
Origin:
Dopolnenie 2, Novosibirsk, p. 18.
NOTE.
Some scholars believe that there is no actual difference between arctica and gomojunovae.
They fail to take into account not only morphological indications, but also the
ecological attachment of these different butterflies; once more we emphasize
that рrctica
is an inhabitant of the plains, whereas gomojunovae
is found in the mountains. In the book of the Moscow collectors лButterflies of
Russia╗, v. 1, 1997 chippewa
with лits╗ ssp. gomojunovae is adduced
without any explanations, and in table 79 (photos No. 7-9) are shown the
specimens of arctica Verity, 1908.
Furthermore, sugitanii is treated as a
synonym of aias Fruhstorfer, 1903,
for no understandable reason. As it is well-known, aias is the ssp. from the alpine zone in the mountains of the C.
Japan, and is unrelated to our fauna.
Colias
sareptensis Staudinger, 1871 (= alfacariensis Ribbe, 1905, australis Verity, 1911)
Among
the butterflies from the forest-steppe of the S. Ural and W. Siberia, up to
Yenisei, there sometimes occur specimens similar to the south-european sp. Colias
sareptensis Staudinger, 1871 (= alfacariensis
Ribbe, 1905, australis Verity, 1911).
It would be possible to posit a stat. n., if in 1876 in the лRev. Russ. dТ
Entomol.╗ (8, p. 153-154) S. └lferaky
had not deduced this taxon from the denotation of a hybrid between hyale and erate.
S. Alferaky represents sareptensis
as a лpermanent modification, appropriate to the Southern and South-eastern
Russia╗. He writes that sareptensis
is larger than typical males of hyale,
the colour of its wings is much more yellow, frequently identical with the
colour of the males of erate;
the black border of the fore- and hindwings is much wider than the border of C.
hyale. The females are larger than the males; the colour of their wings
is white with an admixture of yellow; the black border on the forewings reaches
the inner corner as in the females of erate ab. pallida Stgr. The
wings of the females of sareptensis
are much nore oblong thah these of those hyale. Furthermore, the butterflies fly in the same places and
to the same periods of time as hyale
and erate. Unfortunately, the
western authors, having devoting so much space to substantiating australis
and later alfacariensis, paid no attention to the Russian publications.
For Zaisan Reg.. and the Kazakhstano-Dzhungarski Reg. the ssp. saissanica
Reissinger, 1989 was recently described. Whether such butterflies will be
described for Altai, remains to be seen. The European sareptensis differs from hyale
in the praeimaginal forms. In particular, the adult caterpillar has on each side
two yellow bands, and each segment has black square spots beside itself. The
lower edge of the lateral band is accompanied by the smaller black spots
[Henriksen, Kreutzer, 1982, Ebert, 1991].
Colias
chrysotheme (Esper, 1781)
The
nominotypical ssp. occurs in the S. Ural. In Transuralye and further eastwards
in the plains and foothills up to S. Zabaikalye (v. Kyra) dwell the butterflies
of the ssp. andre
Hemming, 1933 (substituted name instead of sibirica Grum-Grshimailo, 1893;
TL - the vicinity of Krasnoyarsk). They are remarcable for a more pale юrange-yellow
colouring, a wider dark border; the females occasionally have be-coloured FW: a
part of the orange backraund is replaced by a greenish one. The butterflies from
Altai are described as a particular ssp.
Colias
chrysotheme elena P.Gorbunov, 1995
(fig. 1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6).
Translation
of the original description:
л...Below
we describe very peculiar butterflies of the Altai Mountains, the Sayans, and
the mountains of Tuva, differing from lowland ssp. by a more even and bright
colouration of the UPS, narrower light streaks along the veins across the dark
marginal band in males and darker and more contrasted colouration of females,
which tend to resemble C.
thisoa by these characters.
Colias
chrysotheme elena
P. Gorbunov,
ssp. n.
MALE:
FWl. 24.4-27.9 mm (26.2 mm in the holotype). UPS light-orange with a narrow
yellowish stripe along the FW fore margin and an area of the same colour at the
ventral margin of the HW. A slight dusting with dark scales is noticeable on the
HW. The marginal band on the FW in its middle part is 3.5-5 mm wide, usually all
over its length it is cut through with narrow light streaks along the veins,
which most often donТt reach the fringe. The maximum width of the marginal
band on the HW is 2.4-4 mm; light venal streaks on it are even narrower than on
the FW, in some specimens they are hardly seen at the internal margin of the
band. Underside the ground colour of the HW is yellow, that in the central area
of the FW is orange-yellow, the pattern is as in the ssp. andre. The genitalia are
alike those in C. chrysotheme andre and C.
thisoa [the statement concerning thisoa
is evidently of no relevance Ц- Yu.K].
FEMALE:
FWl. 25.5-28.7 mm (27.6 mm in the allotype). The UPF is bright orange-red (while
in the ssp. andre it is yellowish-orange or orange-yellow) with a dark
suffusion in the basal area and along the fore margin. The marginal band on the
FW is blackish-brown, 4.8-6.0 mm wide in its narrowest part, with very
contrasted 6-7 yellow spots. The black discal spot is large, usually of a
triangular shape. The UPH is muddy-orange (much darker than in the females of andre)
with an orange discal spot about 2 mm in diameter. On the HW the marginal band
contains two yellow spots at the apex, four other yellow spots interrupt the
band fusing with the ground colour at its internal margin. The discal spot is
oval-shaped, 3.0-3.6 mm long. The UPS ground colour is greenish-yellow, but
orange in the central area of the FW. There is a row of 3-5 black spots along
the outer edge of the FW. The discal spot on the UNF is somewhat larger than on
the upperside and contains a light dot. On the UNH just above is an oval silvery
discal spot, there is an additional small silvery spot.
MATERIALS:
The holotype: ♂- 29.06.1993, SE Altai, the village Aktash (V. Barkhatov).
The allotype: ♀ - 26.07.1982, Tuva, Choon-Khem (O. Fileva). Paratypes: 3
♂♂ - 2-3.07.1971 , Tuva, the settlement Shuurmak, a steppe (S.
Nikolaev); ♀ Ц 25.06.1971, the same locality; ♀- 16.07.1980, Altai
Mts., the Seminskii Pass (Yu. Korshunov); 2 ♂♂ - 25.06.1992, SE
Altai, the village Aktash (V. Barkhatov); 14 ♂♂ 1 ♀ Ц
27-29.06.1993, the same locality.╗
Origin:
Dnevnye babochki, Ekaterinburg, 1995,
pp. 67-68.
Colias nastes
Boisduval, [1834]
On
Suntar-Khayata Mt. Range, in the basin of the rivers Yana and Indigirka fly the
butterflies of the ssp. jacutica
Kurentzov, 1970 (== jacuttica
Ferris, 1985, ==
jacuticola Weiss
et Mracek, 1989),
with an ash-grey background on the UPS, the dark border is wide with contrasting
white spots. The ssp. dezhnevi
Korshunov, 1995 inhabits the Chukot peninsula:
The
name Colias
nastes dezhnevi Korshunov, 1995
has been suggested to replace Colias
nastes sibirica Kurentzov, 1970
(fig. 1,
2,
3,
4)
since the latter was preoccupied by Colias
aurora Lederer, 1852 (fig. 1,
2).
This ssp., reported for Chukotka and the Kolyma River basin, has a pale
greenish-yellow UPS ground colour, the light spots on the HW margin are of the
ground colour.
NOTE.
One might expect that our publications would explain much. But such is not the
case.. In the book of the Moscow collectors лButterflies of Russia╗, v. 1, by
1997 everything is lumped together, mongola
Alpheraky, 1897 and streckeri
Grum-Grshimailo, 1895, which
admitedly was described by Grigori Efimovich Grum-Grshimailo, but from the the
Distr. of Alberta in Canada. What is the connection here with North-East Asia?
And is the point of synonymization the taxon zemblica
Verity, 1911 to streckeri,
described as far as from Novaja Zemlya?!
Colias hecla
Lefebvre, 1836
The
butterflies from the Polar Ural and northern W. Siberia are rather close to the
ssp. orientis
Wnukowsky, 1929 (pro orientalis
Grum-Grshimailo, 1893),
known from Yakutia and the N.-E. Asia, they differ from the Lapland ssp. sulitelma Aurivillius, 1890
by their wider border, on which the females have more compact isolated light
spots.
NOTE.
The indicating of the ssp. orientis for Altai [Rehnelt, 1983] in Nota Lepid., 6 (4): 244, as I have established with the help of B.
A. Izenbek, whose material had been used by Rehnelt, is based on an incorrect
locality and definition (the butterflies belonged to C. hyperborea and
originated from the northen Far East!).
Colias thisoa Ménétriés,
1832
Colias thisoa
nikolaevi Korshunov, 1998 (fig. 1, 2).
Translation
of the original description:
лSpecimens
from the mountains of S. Siberia have differences and we describe them as C.
thisoa nikolaevi Korshunov, ssp.
n.
Holotype
Ц a male. FWl. 25 mm. The UPS are intensively yellow with a weak violet flash,
while in the western butterflies they are red-yellow with a stronger flash. In
difference from the nominotypical ssp., the black border is somewhat narower.
The silvery spot on the UNH is larger. In females the UPF is red-orange,
brighter than in males. As compared with other ssp., their wings are less
suffused with black and red scales. The FW outer edge is quite straight. The
dark border at ventral angle above the FW is narrower than in the Tien Shan race
urumtsiensis
Verity, 1909, without a violet tint, it contains relatively large yellow
spots of different size.
MATERIALS:
holotype - ♂, 20.06.1960. Altai, Kurai, the stow Tyurguno, a steppen
patch. Paratypes - five ♀ - 14.07.1959, Chuiskaya StepТ, the YustydТ
River valley at village Ak-Tal, two ♂♂ Ц 11.07 and 27.08.1960,
Kurai, the stow Argatyt, ♀ and ♂ Ц 20.07.1960, Kurai, ♂ and
three ♀♀ - 7.07.1973, the valley to Aktru, 12 km south of Kurai,
meadows in front of a forest, ♂ Ц2.07.1986, Altai Nature Reserve, Lake
DzhulukulТ, 2200 m, N. Zolotukhin, ♂ - 20.07.1972, Tuva, Moren, a river
valley, J. Vijdalepp, three ♂♂, two ♀♀ - 10.06.1992,
village Aktash, Kurai Mt. Range, a steppefied slope, 2100 m, V. Barkhatov.
The
ssp. is named in honour of Sergei LТvovich Nikolaev, who collected many Altai
butterflies for the Zoological Museum collection and was our faithful comrade in
various Siberian expeditions.╗
Origin:
Dopolnenie 2, Novosibirsk, 1998, p.
14.
Colias
aquilonaris Grum-Grshimailo, 1899.
As
the status of this sp. without real grounds and verifications is supposed to be
doubtful (the лcriticists╗ do not read, as a rule, the first-description), we
wish to cite here the complete text of the first description and the judgement
by G. ┼. Grum-Grshimailo (in Ann. Mus. Acad. Sci.
St.-Petersb.,1899, IV: 457-458):
лColias
aquilonaris sp. n. (a C.
hecla var.?). Supra alae ♂ aurantiacae, limbo nigrofusco, puncto
centrali parvo oblongo, saepe subnullo, macula discocellulari per magna rubra,
fimbria et maegine costali roseis; subtus alae anticae dilute aurantiacae, ad
marginem internum pallidiores, nigro sparsae, maculis antemarginalibus
obliteratis nigro-fuscis parvis vel subnullis; alae posticae ochraceo-flavae
nigrescenti et basin versus viridescenti conspersae, macula discocellulari
duplici argentosa, late rubescenti - fusco circumdato. Alae o supra aurantiacae,
anticae costam et basin versus viridescentinigro atomatae, limbo externo lato
nigro-fusco maculis parvis sulphureis notato, posticae obscuriores, disco omnino
nigricanti, maculis limbalibus sulphureis parvis, macula discocellulari magna
aurantiaca; subtus alae olivaceo-vel ochraceoflavae, anticae in disco dilute
aurantiacae, posticae fuscescenet viridescenti dense atomatae males-females -
22,5 - 25 mm. In valle flum. Olenek, 67,5 lat.sept., VII 1874, a Dom.
Czekanowski et in valle fl. Janae, 16. VII.1885, a Cl. Toll et cl. Bunge
detecta. (4 ♂♂ 4 ♀♀ in coll. Mus. Zool. Ac. Caes. sc.
Petr.).
For
a long time I hesitated to single out aquilonaris
as an independent sp. But a thorough study of the available specimens and the
fact of presence of the true C.
hecla
in the Polar Siberia overcame my indecision (see below regarding my var. orientalis
from the valleys of the rivers Lena and Olenek, that differs from the Lapland C.
hecla Lef. only by its greater
size and the large yellow spots on the border band. The specimens caught in the
valley of the lower Ob represent a noticeable transition from orientalis nobis
to the typical Lapland hecla).
The main distinctive feature of C. aquilonaris
is the лdirty╗ yellow dense colouring of the UNS of the wings, which in the
females shades over into an olive-yellow. The Lapland hecla
has neither such colouring nor a transition to it; the same may be said about
the Greenland representant of this sp. (var. zetterstedtii Gr.-Gr., лMemoires sur les lepidopteres╗, IV,
p.297). Nevertheless, I know a female specimen in the collection of His Majesty
Prince Nicolai Mikhailovich where it is grouped among hecla and has the similar
colouring of the UNS of the HW; but this specimen is larger than the other ones
of hecla
in the same collection and has a wider border band; furthermore, it was caught
somewhere in the valley ow the Lower Yenissei. Thus, it doesnТt belong to hecla.
Another feature of C.
aquilonaris, distinguishig the
latter from C.
hecla, is the absolutely
different form of the wings which are much wider than the wings of C.
hecla. Finally, the third, minor
feature of C.
aquilonaris is the border band of
the FW which are wider than that found in C. hecla, and which are enlarged towards the top, whereas the
Greenland variety of hecla shares this
feature, too. The HW of C.
aquilonaris, like these of the
Greenland variety , are heavily darkened by a thin coating of black scales.
These features are quite sufficient, in my opinion, to recognize the C.
aquilonaris as a sepate item in the classification of the genus. The specimen
from the Yana valley, delivered by Bunge and Toll, is less typical than the
specimens caught in the Olenek valley by Chekanowski [┼цхуюфэшъ чююы.ьєчх , ╤.-╧., Є.IV,1899
(1900): 457-458. TS Ц the N. Siberia (latitude 67,5 North), Olenek r. Habitat:
from the Putoran Mts. upto the Kolyma r. and Chukotka (Providenije Bay); strips
of tundra and meadows in the valley of Majmechi r. in Putoran, tundras and
sparse larch forests elsewhere.Ф
NOTE.
We have no doubts regarding the independence of the sp. In fact, it was quite
accurately defined by the specimens in I. ZkharzhevskiТs collection from the
Putoran Plateau, according to the previously mentioned features defined by G. E.
Grum-Grshimailo. Unfortunately the Colias
had suffered of the hands of a certain УswindlerФ. According to the
information of A. LТvovskij, above the label лaquilonaris╗ in the collection were affixed лall kind of
riffraff╗! How could it be possible to detect here a conspecifity with viluiensis?
In the book лButterflies of Russia╗, 1997, tab. 36, No. 9-12 there are various
photos with the anotation лviluiensis aquilonaris╗ that have
nothing common with G. E. Grum-GrshimailoТs taxon.
