M. Athalia, M. Aurelia and M. Britomartis (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) in the North-Western Balkans
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Repository of University of Primorska ANNALES · Ser. hist. nat. · 22 · 2012 · 1 Original Scientifi c Article UDK 595.78:591.9(497-16) Received: 2012-04-25 NEW DATA ON THE PRESENCE OF THREE SIMILAR SPECIES OF THE GENUS MELITAEA: M. ATHALIA, M. AURELIA AND M. BRITOMARTIS (LEPIDOPTERA: NYMPHALIDAE) IN THE NORTH-WESTERN BALKANS Toni KOREN & Jure JUGOVIC University of Primorska, Science and Research Centre, Institute for Biodiversity Studies, SI-6310 Izola, Giordana Bruna 6, Slovenia E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT The recently collected distribution data about three similar Melitaea (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) species (M. athalia, M. aurelia and M. britomartis) that were reliably identifi ed based on morphology of genitalia are presented. Three countries from the NW Balkans (Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina) were included in the survey. All three species are widely distributed in Slovenia and Croatia from the lowlands to the subalpine belt, frequently occurring also in sintopy. The proportion of M. aurelia and M. britomartis that are often treated as rare is quite high, accounting for 28.5 % and 22.7 % of the total studied sample size, respectively. The known area of distribution for M. aurelia and M. britomartis has been signifi cantly extended to the south, especially in Croatia from where only two records for the latter had previously existed. M. britomartis is recorded in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the fi rst time. Key words: Melitaea athalia/aurelia/britomartis, genitalia, distribution, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina NUOVE CONFERME DELLA PRESENZA DI TRE SPECIE SIMILI DEL GENERE MELITAEA: M. ATHALIA, M. AURELIA E M. BRITOMARTIS (LEPIDOPTERA: NYMPHALIDAE) NEI BALCANI NORD-OCCIDENTALI SINTESI L’articolo riporta recenti dati sulla distribuzione di tre specie simili di Melitaea (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae: M. athalia, M. aurelia e M. britomartis), che sono state determinate in base alla morfologia degli organi genitali. La ricerca ha coperto il territorio di tre stati dei Balcani nord-occidentali (Slovenia, Croazia, Bosnia ed Erzegovina). I risultati indicano che tutte le specie hanno un’ampia distribuzione in Slovenia e Croazia. M. aurelia e M. britomartis, frequentemente considerate quali specie rare, hanno rappresentato un’alta percentuale del campione studiato, ossia il 28,5 % ed il 22,7 %, rispettivamente. L’area di distribuzione conosciuta di M. aurelia e M. britomartis è stata estesa signifi cativamente verso sud, specialmente in Croazia, dove fi no ad oggi si contavano solo due segnalazioni delle specie studiate. M. britomartis è stata trovata in Bosnia ed Erzegovina per la prima volta. Parole chiave: Melitaea athalia/aurelia/britomartis, genitali, distribuzione, Slovenia, Croazia, Bosnia ed Erzegovina 251 ANNALES · Ser. hist. nat. · 22 · 2012 · 1 Toni KOREN & Jure JUGOVIC: NEW DATA ON THE PRESENCE OF THREE SIMILAR SPECIES OF THE GENUS MELITAEA: M. ATHALIA, M. AURELIA AND ..., 25–34 INTRODUCTION identifi cation based on external morphology. Since the latter is extremely diffi cult owing to the high rate of The genus Melitaea is comprised of about 65 small morphological variability in species (and/or population) to medium-sized butterfl y species distributed widely (Tolman & Lewington, 2008), there is a high probability across the Palaearctic region (Leneveu et al., 2009). The of a series of misidentifi cations in the older literature, radiation of diversity in the genus Melitaea is estimated most commonly in favour of M. athalia which is belie- to have happened in early the Miocene, somewhere in ved to be the most widespread and frequent of all three the Central Palaearctic region (Leneveu et al., 2009). In species (Jakšić, 1988; Lorković, 2009). As such, distribu- Europe, 15 species of the genus Melitaea are present tion data from papers in which species were identifi ed (Van Swaay et al., 2010), of which eight are distributed only on the basis of external morphological characte- in the area of the north-western part of the Balkan Pen- ristics needs to be treated differently from the data ob- insula. Most European representatives of this genus have tained from genitalia preparations. Without those data, clearly visible external diagnostic morphological char- however, almost no records would be left for Croatia acteristics and can be easily distinguished from similar and Bosnia and Herzegovina. With the application of species (Tolman & Lewington, 2008). Aside from those, identifi cation based on the morphology of genitalia, we this genus also includes some species which are diffi cult expect: (1) to reliably identify the specimens to the spe- to recognize by external morphology, i.e. colour pat- cies rank, and (2) to provide exact data on their geo- terns on the wings. There are some species for which graphical, altitudinal and temporal distributions. Hence, the morphology of the genitals must be checked for cor- we expect to considerably change the current knowled- rect identifi cation (Urbahn, 1952; Tolman & Lewington, 2008; Paulavičiūtė & Tamutis, 2009). This includes the complex of three species present in the northern Bal- kans: Melitaea athalia (Rottemburg, 1775), Melitaea au- relia (Nickerl, 1850) and Melitaea britomartis Assmann, 1847. Although some authors propose different external character keys for identifi cation of the three species (e.g., Higgins & Rilley, 1970; Lafranchis, 2004; Tolman & Lev- ington, 2008), i.e. combination of coloration (lunules on hind wings and band coloration, colour of hair on the palps and size), the morphological variability prevents proper identifi cation at all times (Tolman & Lewington, 2008; Lorković, 2009). The three most north-western Balkan countries (Slo- venia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina) have a long tradition of butterfl y research (e.g., Mann, 1857, 1867, 1869; Hafner, 1909; Stauder, 1919–1927; Carn- elutti, 1992; Lelo, 2007; Lorković, 2009; Šašić & Mi- hoci, 2011). Until 1991, all three countries were part of former Yugoslavia. So far only one distribution atlas for the whole area of Yugoslavia exists (Jakšić, 1988) where the presence of each species is indicated for the 10 x 10 km2 UTM fi elds. Slovenia is the best surveyed country in the Balkans, owing to numerous recent publications, and a new Atlas of butterfl ies (Verovnik et al., 2012). In the last 20 years much new data regarding the but- terfl ies of Croatia has been published (e.g., Mihoci et Fig. 1: Distribution of the three Melitaea species (M. al., 2007; Koren & Ladavac, 2010; Koren et al., 2011; athalia, M. aurelia, M. britomartis) from the NW Balkans Šašić & Mihoci, 2011), but large parts of the country still based on the data included in the present study. The remain unsurveyed. For Bosnia and Herzegovina, only a historically defi ned southern limit of the distribution of small number of papers have been published in the last M. aurelia is denoted by the grey line. The two historical 20 years (e.g., Lelo, 2000), including a book with gen- records of M. britomartis in Croatia are denoted by “X”. eral information on the distribution of butterfl ies in this Sl. 1: Zemljevid razširjenosti treh vrst iz rodu Melitaea country (Lelo, 2007). While M. athalia and M. aurelia (M. athalia, M. aurelia, M. britomartis) na področju SZ have already been recorded in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Balkana. Zgodovinsko postavljena južna meja razširje- this is not true for M. britomartis (Lelo, 2007). nosti M. aurelia je označena s sivo črto. Dva zgodovin- The majority of the published data on the three spe- ska podatka za M. britomartis na Hrvaškem sta označe- cies of Melitaea from the NW Balkans rely mostly on na z “X”. 262 ANNALES · Ser. hist. nat. · 22 · 2012 · 1 Toni KOREN & Jure JUGOVIC: NEW DATA ON THE PRESENCE OF THREE SIMILAR SPECIES OF THE GENUS MELITAEA: M. ATHALIA, M. AURELIA AND ..., 25–34 ge on the presence of these three species in some parts and the distribution areas of the all three species grea- of the NW Balkans. tly overlap (Fig. 1). Nevertheless, all three species were found together only at 7.1 % of all localities, and in an MATERIALS AND METHODS additional 21.4 %, two species were found in sintopy. In other cases, only one species was found in a single Samples of three species of the genus Melitaea (Fig. locality (Appendix 1). 1, Appendix 1) were collected with a butterfl y net for over last 30 years all over the NW Balkans, including Temporal and altitudinal distribution the following countries: Slovenia (samples from 20 lo- calities), Croatia (32 localities) and Bosnia and Herzego- The temporal and altitudinal occurrence phenology vina (4 localities). Sample size ranged from 1 to 12 for of the three studied Melitaea species is presented in Fig- males and from 1 to 3 for females, with males prevailing ure 2. The adults are active from the beginning of May (Appendix 1). On each sampling occasion, the data on until the end of July. Nevertheless, the presence of M. sampling locality was gathered, which includes geo- aurelia was not recorded in approximately the fi rst third graphic position, altitude and a short habitat description of the season (i.e., fi rst record is from 8 th of June from (Appendix 1). Specimens were mounted and are depo- Šterna in Croatian Istria). sited in two private collections in Pazin, Croatia (Koren Specimens of all three studied species of Melitaea T. collection) and Kranj, Slovenia (Jugovic I. collection) were found from the lowlands (< 100 m. a.s.l.) to the sub- (see Appendix 1, under Coll.). alpine zone, as high as 1600 m a. s. l., with a shortened As a high morphological variability of the wing size, period of occurrence at higher elevations, especially on pattern and coloration has been reported by several stu- account of the time delay at the beginning of the season. dies (e.g., Tolman & Lewington, 2008), no specimens The seasonal occurrence of each of the three species is were attributed to a single species regarding these cha- positively correlated with altitude, meaning that the high- racteristics (see Introduction for details).