LEPIDOPTERA

• PIERIDAE Duponchel,1835

  • PIERIS Schrank,1801

    
    

    • Pieris melete (Menetries, 1857)

Pieris melete orientis Oberthur, 1880

• TYPE LOCALITY. "Japon;...l'Amour" [Itsu Peninsula, Honshu, Japan].

• RANGE. The Amur and Ussuri regions, China, Japan, Korea.

• DISTRIBUTION AND VARIATION: The Ussuri region - ssp. orientis Oberthur, 1880 (= transiens Verity, 1908; = amuri Sheljuzhko, 1960).

• TAXONOMIC NOTES. There is no common view concerning the taxonomic status of the S. Ussuri populations. Eitschberger (1983) regards orientis and melete as distinct sympatric species, but his arguments are not convincing enough.

• HABITATS AND BIOLOGY. Flight under the canopy of deciduous forest from May to August in two generations. Host plant (Kurentzov, 1970, Danchenko, in press): Arabis sagittata, A. glauca, Cardamine leucanthe, Sisymbrium officinale. Pupa hibernating.

• SIMILAR SPECIES. P. dulcinea: FW apical spot narrow, divided by white scaling along veins and reaching vein Cul at termen; HW black dusting at ends of veins slight; UPF cell clear white.

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