Melitaea nevadensis

Melitaea nevadensis
Upperside
Underside
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Melitaea
Species: M. nevadensis
Binomial name
Melitaea nevadensis
Oberthür, 1904
Synonyms
  • Melitaea dejone nevadensis Oberthür, 1904
  • Melitaea athalia celadussa Fruhstorfer, 1910
  • Melitaea athalia nevadensis Oberthür, 1904

Melitaea nevadensis (or Melitaea celadussa var. nevadensis) is a species of butterfly of the family Nymphalidae.

Taxonomy

Melitaea nevadensis is often referred as a variety (probably) or subspecies of Melitaea celadussa. Formerly Melitaea celadussa was considered as a subspecies of Melitaea athalia (Rottemburg, 1775), but molecular studies (mitochondrial DNA) have determined that Melitaea celadussa is a different species of Melitaea athalia. These butterflies are distinct genetically and morphologically at the genital level.[1][2][3]

Distribution

Melitaea celadussa is present in south of Portugal and Spain.

Description

It has a wingspan of about 40 millimetres (1.6 in). These butterflies are golden yellow or orange, with fine black markings.

Biology

Caterpillars feed on Plantago, Antirrhinum, Veronica, Linaria, Melampyrum, Digitalis and Pedicularis species.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Oorschot Van H., Coutsis J. - The genus Melitaea Fabricius, 1807 (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae, Nymphalinae) Taxonomy and systematics with special reference to the male genitalia. - Pardubice 2014
  2. ↑ Leneveu J., Chichvarkhin A. & Wahlberg N. (2009), Varying rates of diversification in the genus Melitaea (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) during the past 20 million years Biological Journal of the Linnean Society n.2 pp. 346-361
  3. ↑ Emilio Balletto, Luigi A. Cassulo , Simona Bonelli : An annotated Checklist of the Italian Butterflies and Skippers (Papilionoidea, Hesperiioidea) -p.101-
  4. ↑ Paolo Mazzei, Daniel Morel, Raniero Panfili Moths and Butterflies of Europe and North Africa


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