Lasiommata felix (WARNECKE)

Klütsch, Cornelya F. C., Misof, Bernhard, Nasher, Abdul K. & Naumann, Clas Michael, 2005, Extended distribution patterns of the Arabian burnet moth Reissita simonyi (R, 1899) (Lepidoptera: Zygaenidae) and the Arabian wall brown Lasiommata felix (W, 1929) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) in Southern Arabia, Beiträge Zur Entomologie = Contributions to Entomology 55 (2), pp. 387-402 : 395-399

Lasiommata felix (WARNECKE) – Arabian Wall Butterfly

Pararge felix WARNECKE, 1929 . Int. ent. Z. 22: 365 ( Yemen, Sana´a).

Specimens examined

Where possible, geographic information not included in the original sources was added, mainly from (Encarta World Atlas, 1999). Abbreviations: ZFMK = Alexander Koenig Research Institute and Museum of Zoology, CMN = private collection of Clas M. Naumann, BMNH = British Museum of Natural History, NHMW = Vienna Natural History Museum. Record numbers correspond to numbers given in maps. Some records are not given in map, because coordinates and/or geographical positions were not sufficiently known.

Saudi Arabia: 1 1♂ Asir, Taif , 21°16’N 40°24’E, ca. 1750 m, 13.VII.1934 ; 2 Asir, As- Nimas , 19°11’N 42°19’E, ca. 2400m (mentioned in Larsen, 1983); 3 7♂, 4♀, Asir, Suda , 18°16’N 42°22’E, ca. 3000 m, 9.X.1936 ; 4 1♂, Province Gizan, Feifa , 17°16’N 43°05’E ca. 1200 m, 22.-23.XII.1936 ; 5 1♂, Asir, Musaira , 28.XI.1936 , Philby (not shown in map).

Yemen: 6 Province Sadah, Jabal Rhaza, vill. Zerra´a , 16°52’E 43°20’N, 2050-2100 m, 11. VI .2001, Klütsch & Naumann; Tissue collection, ZFMK ; 7 2 spec., Bani Mawhab / Bait Muzaret , 15°44.180’N 43°40.150’E, 1760 m, 14.06.200 1, Klütsch & Naumann, Tissue collection, ZFMK ; 8 1- 3 specimens, Province Sana´a, mountains WSW Amran, Mada´a, 15°37’N 43°44’E, 3000 m, 29.X.1996, Hacker et al.; 9 Wadi Sharas (below Hajjah), around 900 m high (locality mentioned in Larsen, 1983; not shown in map); 10 > 10 specimens, Province Sana´a, mountains WSW Amran, Masaani , 15°36’N 43°50’E, 2900 m, 30.X.1996, Hacker et al.; 11 > 10 specimens, Province Sana´a, mountains WSW Amran, Masaani-Gummama , 15°35’N 43°47’E, 3000 m, 30.X.1996, Hacker et al.; 12a 1 - 3 specimens, Province Al-Mahwit, E Kawkaban, 15°29’N 43°55’E, 2750 m, 31.X.1996, Hacker et al.; 12b 3 spec., Al Mahwit, 15°29’N 43°33’E, 2100 m, 8. VI .2001, Klütsch & Naumann, Tissue collection, ZFMK ; 13a Wadi Dhar , 1982, Larsen; 13b 2 spec., Wadi Dhar , 15°26.266’N 44°08.133’E, 4./ 7. VI .2001, Naumann ; Tissue collection, ZFMK ; 31 spec., 15. VI .2001, Klütsch & Naumann, Tissue collection, ZFMK ; 14a Province Sana´a, Sana´a, 15°21’N 44°12’E, 1934, Rathjens & Wissmann; 14b 1♂, 3♀, Province Sana´a, app. 2400 m, II. 1938, Scott & Britton; 14c 2♂, 2♀, Province Sana´a, Sana´a, app. 2400 m, X.1937, Rathjens; 14d 1♂, 2♀, Province Sana´a, Sana´a, X.1938, Petrie; 15a Province Sana´a, Road Sana´a-Hodeida, 1982, Larsen (not shown in map); 15b 3 ♂, Al Asr (10 km W of Sana´a, around 2500 m high); 15c 3♂, 1♀, Hada´a (6 km SW of Sana´a, around 2700 m high), 14.I.1938; 15d 3♀, Ghaiman (15 km SE of Sana´a, around 2200 m high), 18.II.1938; 15e 3♀, Wadi Sabir (S of Taiz, around 2000 m high), 19.XII.1937; 15f 1♂, 1♀, Beit Baus (7 km S of Sana´a, 15°16’N 44°11’E, around 2500 m high), 21.I.1938; 16 > 10 specimens, Province Sana´a, mountains SW Sana´a, Jabal Ayban, Bait Na´ama , 15°18’12’’N 44°16’48’’E, 2700-2750 m, 18.IV.1998 and 24.II.2000, Hacker et al.; 17 > 10 specimens, Province Sana´a, Jabal an Nabi Shu´ayb , S-side 15°16’33’’N 43°59’23’’E, 3000 m, 7. V .1998, Hacker et al.; 18 1 spec., Al Dogma/ Al Haima, 15°12.015’N 43°58.009’E, 2845 m, Klütsch, tissue collection, ZFMK ; 19a 7 + 22 spec., ca. 10 km S of Al Hudaib , 15°04.129’N 43°43.550’E, 2818 m, 27./ 28. VI .2001, Klütsch , Tissue collection, ZFMK ; 19b 3 + 30 spec., Al Hudaib near Menakhah , 15°02.641’N 43°45.132’E, 2818 m, 26./ 27.VI.2001 and 21.VI.2002, Klütsch, Tissue collection, ZFMK ; 20a> 10 specimens, Province Sana´a, 60 km SW Sana´a, Makaban, Naqil Menakhah , (westside), 15°04’N 43°39’E, 1900 m, 2.XI.1996, Hacker et al.; 20b > 10 specimens, Province Sana´a, Jabal Al Hotep, (S Menakhah), 15°02’N 43°38’E, 2800 m, 26.II.2000, Hacker et al.; 21a Jabal Sumarah, 14°16’N 44°10’E, 1982, Larsen; 21b Jabal Sumarah, VI .1982, Naumann; 21c Sumarah Pass, Naqil Sumarah , around 2800 m high, mentioned in Larsen, 1983; 22 Province Ibb , 5 km N Ibb, vill. Al Bahrin, 14°02’N 44°09’E, 2200 m, 17.X.2001, Naumann; 23 Province Ibb, Jabal Bada’an , 14°00’N 44°10’E, 1982, Larsen; 24 16 + 8 spec., Al Udayn , 13°58.537’N 44°05.913’E, 2300 m, 19./ 20. VI .2001, Klütsch , Tissue collection, ZFMK ; 25 4- 10 specimens, Province Ibb, 1,5 km W Jiblah, 13°57’N 43°57’E, 2100 m, 7.XI.1996, Hacker et al.; 26 4 - 10 specimens, Province Ibb , 5 km NE Al Qa´idah, Mahal al Houmeira , 13°45’N 44°10’E, 1800 m, 6.XI.1996, Hacker et al.; 27 Province Ibb , 30 km S Ibb, 13°50’N 44°10’E, 1982, Larsen; 28a Suq Al Khamis, 13°44’N 43°45’E, 2900 m, 1982, Larsen; 28b Suq Al Khamis, near Taiz, 1982, Carden, in: Larsen, 1982; 29a Province Taiz, Jabal Sabir, 1982, Larsen; 29b 3 + 19 spec., Province Taiz, Jabal Sabir (vill. Mahzaf ), 13°31.917’N 44°00.962’E, 2569 m, 21./ 24. VI .2001, Klütsch , Tissue collection, ZFMK ; 10 spec., 2.VII.2002, Klütsch, Tissue collection, ZFMK ; 29c Province Taiz, Jabal Sabir, below top, 13°31’N 44°00’E, 2800 m, Naumann; 30 Jaffah area , 30. VI .2002, 13°47’N 45°11’E, ~ 2300 m, Klütsch; 31 Hizyaz, 20 km S of Sana´a , around 2000 m high, 1982, Larsen (not shown in map); 32 Jabal Dawran , 20 km W of Ma´abar , around 2000 m high, 1982, Larsen (not shown in map); 33 Jabal Jihaf, ca . 90 km N of Aden, around 2000 m high, 19.-20.IX.1938, Scott & Britton (not shown in map) .

Biology and Ecology

Lasiommata felix usually occurs along walls or vertical cliffs in mountainous areas. The movement is always up and down along these vertical features. LARSEN (1982) interpreted this behavior as protection behavior against unwanted dispersal since this species is often found in windy areas. Contrariwise, this vertical movement could also be part of the patrolling behavior, which is shown especially by males of L. felix . Nowadays the terraced agricultural regions used for cultivation replaced natural rocky hillsides in many regions ( Fig. 3 ).

LARSEN (1982) suggested that the food plant must be a common grass species. The vegetation, e. g., at Wadi Dhar, a classical place where L. felix is commonly found is described in DUBAIE et al., 1993 (and literature within).

Distribution

Lasiommata felix is commonly found in the mountainous area of Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Usually, it can be seen in high altitudes around 2200 m ( LARSEN, 1982; own observations). Similar to R. s. yemenicola, it seems to have a strong connection to the western escarpment, but no localities are known along the coast of the Indian Ocean.

Remarks

Lasiommata felix was described by WARNECKE in 1929. SCOTT & BRITTON published in 1942 one specific locality (Jabal Jihaf), where L. felix was found in Yemen. This place must be about 90 miles north from Aden, near Dhala. Unfortunately we were unable to identify this collection site in an actual map, but GABRIEL, 1954 examined the collections of Scott & Britton and wrote that they collected 14♂♂ and 5♀♀ in September/ October 1937 at this site. Furthermore, SCOTT & BRITTON mentioned another place, but did not mentioned the English or Latin name, they circumscribed the butterfly (e. g. brown Satyrines). The locality named is Jabal Al Kohl (25 km N of Sana´a, around 3000 m high). Since the locality is situated near Sana´a, a region where we frequently found Lasiommata felix in our field trips, it seems plausible to check this locality in further studies. However, since SCOTT & BRITTON did not mentioned Lasiommata felix or the English name wall brown in detail, we refrained to include the named locality in the list of records and distribution map.

L. felix seems to show a close phylogenetic relationship to the Ethiopian species, L. maderakal GUÉRIN-MENÉVILLE, 1849 , and L. menava MOORE, 1865 of Iran and Afghanistan ( LARSEN, 1982). HEYDEMANN (1954) pointed out that it should be handled as a subspecies of L. meneva . In 1956, HIGGINS & WILTSHIRE critically examined L. felix and L. meneva . They found that L. felix showed more narrowed androconia in comparison to L. meneva , the hind wing margin is more strongly scalloped and eye-spots on the wings are surrounded by an orange ring in comparison to L. meneva (see also LARSEN, 1982 and BOZANO, 1999). They treated both as specifically distinct. As LARSEN (1982) point- ed out all three mentioned species ought to have species status. L. felix does not appear closely related to L. maera in Europe and the Middle East based on genital morphology ( LARSEN, 1982; L. maera has three to four small teeth at the tip of the penis; this feature is not found in the other three species). This would suggest that some Palaearctic species found in Arabia and East Africa have ancestors from the Himalaya/Iranian region ( LARSEN, 1984).

In addition, BOZANO (1999) examined morphological variation within L. felix (see there and LARSEN, 1984 for pictures) and mainly found variation in wing color between populations from different localities.

Results

Lasiommata felix is distributed from Taif, Saudi Arabia (21°16’N 40°24’E) to the Jaffah area, E of Taiz / Yemen (13°47’N 45°11’E) in Southern Arabia ( Fig. 5 ) .

It looks like it is strictly limited to the western escarpment along the Red Sea. So far, no localities could be found in Southeastern Yemen along the Indian Ocean.

Figures

Fig. 3: A typical place to find Lasiommata felix near Bani Mawhab / Bait Muzaret. The artificial walls seem to be a suitable habitat for L. felix.

Fig. 5: Distribution of Lasiommata felix; the distribution is limited to the western escarpment along the Red Sea