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LEPIDOPTERA

Muschampia lutulenta (Grum-Grshimailo, 1887)
Muschampia lutulenta (Grum-Grshimailo, 1887)

• TYPE LOCALITY. "Pass Ljagar-Murda" [Pass Lyagar-Murda, Ghissarsky Mts.].

• RANGE. Mountains from Syria and Mesopotamia to Middle Asia and Afghanistan.

• DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION. S. Ghissar, Alai, Darvaz - the nominate subspecies; W. Tian-Shan (Karatau and Chatkalsky Mts.) - ssp. massageticus Zhdanko, 1993 (= jaxartensis Lukhtanov, 1994). In general, geographical variation can hardly be traced due to the great individual and ecological variability. Some specimens are close to the ssp. patta Evans, 1949 described from Afghanistan, which is perhaps nothing else but an individual variety of no taxonomic rank.

• HABITATS AND BIOLOGY. Dry mountain slopes at 400-2,500 m a.s.l. Flight period: May-August depending on local conditions. Host plants: Phlomoides canescens and Phlomis thapsoides in Turkmenia, Phlomis bucharica and Ph. fruticetorum in Darvaz. Larvae hiding in host plant leaves woven together.

• SIMILAR SPECIES. M. poggei: FW more narrow with their apex acute; the largest submarginal spot of UNH close to the central spot of the discal row; genitalia different (Fig.).

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

fig 3

Fig. Male genitalia of the staudingen- (right clasp and aedeagus) and the /w^w-groups (right clasp, uncus and gnatos): 1 - Muschampia staudingeri''(W. Kopet-Dagh); 2 - M. prometheus (Gissarsky Mts.); 3 - M. proteus (Katran-Too Mts., Alai); 4 - M. lutulenta ("Samarkand"); 5 - M. poggei (Armenia)