92. D ESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE: FAMILY Great Banded Grayling Kanetisa circe (fabricius, 1775)

Wingspan: From 5.5 to 6.8 cm. Closed wings: They are brown DESCRIPTION mottled with dark and grey colours. There is a black on the forewing with a white centre partly outlined in white as well. The hindwing has a wide white stripe which crosses it completely, while another stripe stretches up to its middle. There is a zigzag line parallel to the outer margin. Open wings: They hardly ever show the inner part of their wings. They are dark brown with white spots on the forewings, and a wide stretch on the hindwings. There is a dark eyespot on the forewing.

KEY FOR VISUAL IDENTIFICATION

Black eyespot partly outlined in white

Zigzag line

White stripe

White stripe Curvy black line

Eyespot

White spots

White stripe

220 DIURNAL BUTTERFLIES • GR-249 Great Malaga Path Rock Grayling: The eyespot on the forewing is outlined in light yellow. There is no white stripe close to the wing base on the hindwing, and the main stripe is wider. The line which is parallel to the outer margin is wavy not zigzag. Graying: There is an eyespot on the forewing, which is outlined in light yellow. The white stripe on the hindwing is narrower, less prominent and broken at the front margin.

Rock Grayling Graying The only one generation of these butterfl ies fl ies from June to the end of July. It lives in mountainous areas, in sparse woodland with large surfaces of grassland, where their ’’ foodplants, such as grasses from , Elymus and Brachypodium genera can be found. Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

In Málaga, it is restricted to high areas in the Tejeda Mountains, where only one colony has been spotted at an altitude of 1590 m. None of the stages stretches close to this colony. Please send any information about spotting the at any point along or outside of the GMP to the author of this guide.

Legend:

Great Malaga Path

Distribution of the species along the GMP GR-249 Great Malaga Path • DIURNAL BUTTERFLIES 221