LEPIDOPTERA

• S A T Y R I D A E Boisduval, 1833

  • HYPONEPHELE Mushamp, 1915

    
    

    • Hyponephele naubidensis (Erschoff, 1874)

Hyponephele naubidensis (Erschoff, 1874)

· TYPE LOCALITY. "...in monte Naubid in Turkestano Rossico". [Mt. Naubid in the upper reaches of Zeravshan River, Ghissar, Uzbekistan].

· RANGE. Tian-Shan to Dzhungarsky Alatau, the Pamirs-Alai to ?N. Afghanistan.

· DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. Found almost everywhere in the mountains of Middle Asia, except for the high-altitude areas of central Tian-Shan and the E. Pamirs. Apart from the nominate form, only the ssp. decorata (Sheljuzhko, 1919) has been described from Inner Tian-Shan, distributed in the mountains around Naryn: Naryntau, Baibichetau, Atbashi, Baidulu, etc. The population from the extreme east of the Alaisky Mts. can also be referred to this taxon. Populations from W. Tian-Shan are intermediate between decorata and the nominate subspecies.

· HABITAT AND BIOLOGY. A characteristic species of meadow-steppe habitats of foothills and the forest belt of the mountains, elsewhere in the steppe zone with Stipa at 1,500-3,000 m a.s.l. In the N. Pamirs, it reaches up to 3,300 m a.s.l., and even higher in the Peter 1 Mts., at the Fortambek Glacier up to 4,000-4,100 m a.s.l. Flight period: June-August, sometimes to mid-September.

Photo and text: Guide to the BUTTERFLIES OF RUSSIA and adjacent territories Volume 1. PENSOFT, Sofia - Moscow. 1997