Euchloe ausonia
| Eastern dappled white | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Pieridae |
| Tribe: | Anthocharini |
| Genus: | Euchloe |
| Species: | E. ausonia |
| Binomial name | |
| Euchloe ausonia (Hubner, 1805) | |
Euchloe ausonia, the eastern dappled white, is a southern European and Eurasian butterfly found mostly to the south and east of its almost indistinguishable relative the western dappled white.
The wingspan is 40–48 mm. They go to an altitude of 1600 m. In most of its range, there are two generations. Adults are on wing from the beginning of March to the beginning of July. In mountainous and very dry areas, there is only one generation.
The larvae feed on the flowers and young fruits of Sinapis arvensis, Isatis tinctoria, Isatis glauca, Aethionema saxatile, Iberis sempervirens, Biscutella mollis, Biscutella laevigata, Bunias erucago and Aurinia saxatilis.
Systematics and subspecies
The three species Euchloe ausonia, Euchloe crameri and Euchloe simplonia are closely related. Many authors refer to these species as the Euchloe ausonia-complex, -superspecies or -species group.[1] Sometimes Euchloe naina is also added to this group, but crossbreeding experiments suggest it may be a subspecies of Euchloe simplonia.[2] Because of these taxonomic problems, the number of subspecies is not certain. The following subspecies are listed:
- Euchloe ausonia maxima Verity, 1925 (Crimea)
- Euchloe ausonia graeca (Verity, 1925) (Greece, southern Siberia)
- Euchloe ausonia pulverata (Christoph, 1884) (Tien Shan)
- Euchloe ausonia volgensis Krulikovsky, 1897 (southern Russia)
- Euchloe ausonia melisande Frühstorfer, 1908 (Jordan)
- Euchloe ausonia irinia Dubatolov & Kosterin, 1994 (Kazakhstan)
References
- ↑ Dubatolov, V.V. and O.E. Kosterin (1994). "A new subspecies of the Euchloe ausonia Huebner species group from the highlands of the Dzungarian Alatau (East Kazakhstan) (Lepidoptera, Pieridae)." Atalanta (Marktleuthen) 25(3-4): 513-520
- ↑ Back, W. (1990). "Taxonomic Studies Within the Euchloe-ausonia Huebner 1804 Species Group (Lepidoptera, Pieridae)." Atalanta (Marktleuthen) 21(3-4): 187-206.