Albulina Loewii
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''Plebejidea loewii'', the large jewel blue, Retrieved April 23, 2018. is a species of blue (Lycaenidae) butterfly.


Description from Seitz

L. loewii Z. (= empyrea Frr.) (78 i). Has the appearance of a small form of the preced ing . aliardii ; male above very vividly glossy blue, almost as in ''bellargus'' but darker; the female above brown with yellowish red spots in the anal area of the hindwing. Underside with an abundance of ocelli, behind the red submarginal band of the hindwing there are metallic dots. Asia Minor, Armenia, Persia and Turkestan. — The large form ''gigas'' Stgr. (78 i, k), from Syria, resembles especially '' lycidas'' but the ocelli of the hindwing beneath are larger and placed closer together; moreover, the characteristic intense blue gloss, which no other Blue has in the same tint, is as strong in ''gigas'' as in true ''loewii''. — But another form, which flies at Sharud and in Baluchistan and agrees in size with true ''loewii'', is said to be paler violet-blue and has been named ''chamanica'' Moore ow full species In May and June, locally plentiful.


Range

Northeast Africa, Aegean Islands, Turkey, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Caucasus and Transcaucasia, Russia (Central Caucasus), Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan


Subspecies

*''Plebejidea loewii loewii'' (Armenia: highland) *''Plebejidea loewii uranicola'' (Walker, 1870) (Jordan, Egypt, the Sinai, the Negev, central Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman) *''Plebejidea loewii antilibanotica'' (Hemming, 1929) (Lebanon) *''Plebejidea loewii laura'' (Evans, 1932) *''Plebejidea loewii dzhemagati'' (Sheljuzhko, 1934) (Caucasus Major) *''Plebejidea loewii schwingenschussi'' (Pfeiffer, 1937) (Talysh Mountains) *''Plebejidea loewii hissarica'' (Shchetkin, 1963) (Ghissar) *''Plebejidea loewii afghana'' (Howarth & Povolny, 1976) (Afghanistan) *''Plebejidea loewii battenfeldi''(Rose & Schurian, 1977) (Iran) *''Plebejidea loewii hofmanni ''(Rose & Schurian, 1977) (Iran)


Ecology

This species lives very locally on dry stony meadows and other xerophytic biotopes or subalpine meadows. One generation per year. Flight time in June - early August. Female are much less common than males and practically do not leave their habitats. After mating, the female lays one egg each on the stems and leaves of the forage plants of caterpillars - Astragalus spp. Egg discoid, with pronounced cells on the surface. Its color is white with a greenish tinge, the micropyle is green. Eggs hibernate with the already formed caterpillar inside. Caterpillars of the first age are yellowish-green with dark dots and a brownish-black head. They eat up the parenchyma of the leaves, scrape off the juicy inner parts of the stipules, but especially prefer to penetrate into the young buds and eat in them. Caterpillars of the senior, the fifth, age are bright green with a black head. They feed on buds and flowers. By the end of their development, they sometimes acquire a reddish hue. Puppies in shelters - under the bushes of a forage plant or in cracks in the soil, attaching to the substrate a spider's loop. The length of the pupa is 11–12 mm. It is elongated, light green with a dark green dorsal stripe and white spiracles, covered with very short white hairs. The pupa stage is 12–15 daysСТРАДОМСКИЙ, Б. В. (2017): Стадии развития Plebejidea loewii (Zeller, 1847) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) TRADOMSKY, B. V. (2017): The developmental stages of Plebejidea loewii(Zeller, 1847) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) — Кавказский энтомологический бюллетень 13 (1): 125-126


Cited references


References

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q66120562, from2=Q7226707, from3=Q13432944 Polyommatini Fauna of Pakistan Butterflies of Asia Butterflies described in 1847