Image of marbled white

Description:

Slo.: travniki lisar - syn.: Melanargia turcica Bois., Melanargia procida Herbst - Habitat: mountain pasture; slightly inclined terrain, southeast aspect; colluvial, calcareous ground; full sun, dry place; elevation 605 m (2.000 feet); average precipitations ~ 3.000 mm/year, average temperature 7-9 deg C, alpine phytogeographical region. Substratum: soil. Comment: Melanargia galathea is beautiful, quite large (4 - 5 cm across) and very common butterfly in Trenta Valley. In good years hundreds of them can appear in July. Eggs are laid on grass stems. The larvae feed on various grasses. They immediately enter hibernation, survive the winter and only feed the following spring on fresh grasses. Caterpillars are green with a darker green line along the body. The black butterfly with red patches on wings is probably also quite common six-spot burnet Zygaena filipendulae (Figs. 13, 15 and 16). Ref.: (1) http://www.lepiforum.de/lepiwiki.pl?Melanargia_Galathea (access 6.8.2017) (2) http://www.learnaboutbutterflies.com/Britain%20-%20Melanargia%20galathea.htm (access 6.8.2017) (3) H. Garms, L. Borm, Fauna Europas, Georg Westermann Verlag 1977, (translated to Slovenian - Mladinska knjiga, 1981), p 400.