Sooty orange tip

The sooty orange tip (Zegris eupheme) is a Palearctic Pieridae butterfly that has a range that extends through southern Europe, southwest Europe, northern Africa, East Kazakhstan and Asia Minor. Global warming currently seems to be extending its range to the north. The habitat consists of open flowery grasslands amongst hills.

Sooty orange tip
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Pieridae
Genus: Zegris
Species:
Z. eupheme
Binomial name
Zegris eupheme
(Esper, 1805)[1]
Subspecies

Several, see text

Synonyms
  • Papilio eupheme Esper, [1804]
  • Zegris eupheme menestho Ménétriés, 1832
  • Zegris eupheme meridionalis Lederer, 1852

The wingspan is 46–50 mm (1.8–2.0 in).[2] Adults have yellow undersides and a patch of orange. They have distinctive grey-black forewing tips. Adults are on wing from mid-March to mid-June in one generation per year.[3]

The larvae feed on Sinapis incana, Raphanus, Sisymbrium polymorphum and Camelina laxa.

In Morocco, the species is particularly associated with woad (Isatis tinctoria), and is found at mid and high elevations in the Middle and High Atlas Mountains. Larvae are often found on the same individual host plant as caterpillars of Euchloe, Pieris rapae and Pieris brassicae. Compared to these other pierines, Z. eupheme is associated with very stable environments.

Description in Seitz

Zegris eupheme from south-eastern Russia, Armenia and the Alatau, is above white with dark apex to the forewing, bearing an orange-red spot, the black median spot of the forewing being halfmoon shaped. The orange spot is usually smaller in the female, being sometimes absent. The underside white, the forewing having a yellow apex and a black median spot, the hindwing being greenish yellow, with white spots. Specimens in which these spots are prevalent belong to ab. tschudica H.-Sch. [synonym of Z. e. erothoe] — menestho Mén. from Asia Minor and Western Kurdistan has the underside of the hindwing more yellow, being also somewhat larger. — meridionalis Led. [stat. nov. Zegris meridionalis meridionalis Lederer, 1852] from central and southern Spain, is still larger, the almost uniformly yellow underside of the hindwing having grey-greenish markings. Larva thick, cylindrical, densely hairy. Pupa stout, with in a dense cocoon, in which one finds, however, still a remnant of the thread characteristic for pupae of Pierids.[4]

Subspecies
  • Z. e. eupheme Esper, 1804 (Southern Russia)
  • Z. e. dyala Peile, 1921 (Iran)
  • Z. e. tigris Riley, 1921 (Iran)
  • Z. e. maroccana Bernardi, 1950 (Morocco, Spain) = Zegris meridionalis marocana Bernardi, 1950 comb. nov. by Back 2012: 80.
  • Z. e. larseni Pittaway, 1986 (Saudi Arabia)[5]
  • Z. e. menestho (Ménétriés, 1832) Asia Minor and Western Kurdistan
  • Z. e. uarda Hemming, 1929
  • Z. e. sulphurea O. Bang-Haas, 1927
  • Z. e. harandi Back, Karbalaye, Leestmans & Hofmann, 2005
  • Z. e. erothoe (Eversmann, [1832])

Habitat

In Armenia the species inhabits dry grasslands including semi-deserts, and arid steppes, as well as juniper woodlands, and tragacanth steppe areas, which are replacing forest on the eroded slopes. Elevation range occupied by the species is from 400 to 2000 m a.s.l.[6]

gollark: Of course.
gollark: That could reveal proprietary bee information. Denied.
gollark: Breakout bees? As in bee escape artists?
gollark: I'm currently novoting due to lack of content.
gollark: Computers are 2.6 fast so the pi can do a lot.

References
  1. Zegris, Site of Markku Savela
  2. BibAlex Archived 2012-07-09 at Archive.today
  3. European Butterflies
  4. Julius Röber Pieridae, pp. 39-74, 374, pls. 17-27. In: Seitz, A. (ed.), 1909 Die Groß-Schmetterlinge der Erde. 1. Band. Die palaearctischen Tagfalter. – Stuttgart, Fritz Lehmann.
  5. Afrotropical Butterflies: File D – Pieridae - Tribe Anthocharidini
  6. Butterfly Conservation Armenia. "State of Zegris eupheme in Armenia". Butterfly Conservation Armenia. TSE NGO. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
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