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LEPIDOPTERA

Proterebia afra (Fabricius, 1787)
  Proterebia afra   (Fabricius, 1787)

· TYPE LOCALITY. "...in Russiae australioris desertis Dom. Bober" [S. Russia].

· RANGE. From the Balkans across the S. European part to the S. Urals and Kazakhstan, and across the Caucasus and Asia Minor to Kopet-Dagh.

· DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. The S. European part, W. Siberia, the S. Altai, the Saur and Tarbagatai mts., Dzhungarsky Alatau and the foothills of N. Tian-Shan - the nominate subspecies (= afer (Esper, 1783), nom. praeoccup.; phegea (Borkhausen, 1788)). In spite of little variation, several other subspecies have been described:

ssp. crimea (Sheljuzhko, 1929) - the Crimea;

ssp. zyxuta (Fruhstorfer, 1918) - the Caucasus Major and Minor;

ssp. hyrcana (Staudinger, 1901) - the Armenian Highland, Talysh;

ssp. fidena (Fruhstorfer, 1918) - Kopet-Dagh;

ssp. bardines (Fruhstorfer, 1918) - the Altai.

· HABITAT AND BIOLOGY. Steppe habitats on plains and at foothills. Flight period: April-July.

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