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FAMILIA RIODINIDAE Grote, 1895
Small or intermediate in size butterflies displaying a great variety of
wing shape and colouration. The world fauna includes more than 1400
species ranging mostly in Neotropic region, ten species ranging in
Palearctic and one - in Russia.
GENUS Hamearis Hubner, [1819].
Type species: Papilio lucina Linnaeus, 1758.
A monotypic genus.
Hamearis lucina (Linnaeus, 1758).
TYPE LOCALITY: Sweden.
RANGE: Europe (except for the North and North-East), Asia Minor. Some
records of this species in the region of the Il'menskiy nature reserve (S
Ural) are known but need in confirmation.
HABITAT: forest meaadows.
FLIGHT PERIOD: May.
PREIMAGINAL PHASES: studied in Europe (Eckstein, 1913, and others.)
Foodplants: Rumex, Lisimachia, Primula officinalis. Eggs: round,
greenish-yellow or white, later become greyish with a semitransparent
cover through which a brown head of the larva is seen; laid singly or in
groups by up to 30 ones on leaf underside. Mature larva: woodlouse-like,
yellow-brown, reddish-brown, or, rarely, greyish, with a row of dark
spots along the back, which are usually fused into a contiguous stripe,
and a yellowish line above the spiracles; on the sides there are reddish
or yellowish warts set with fine hairs; the head is pale-brown or
reddish; the spiracles are black; the ventral side is yellowish. At
daytime the larva hides on the ground, recorded is its connection with
ants. Pupa: muddy-brown with dark spots and shades, set with sparse
hairs; it is fastened on a grass stem with a silken belt and hibernates.
PECULIAR TRAITS OF IMAGO: F.w.l.: 14-17 mm. The wing uppreside is brown
with rows of ochre-orange spots; the hind wing underside is ochre-fulvous
with two rows of white spots.
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