The map (''Araschnia levana'') is a
butterfly
Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...
of the family
Nymphalidae
The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have a red ...
.
Distribution
The area of distribution of the map extends from Spain through
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
and east through the
Palearctic
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa.
The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...
to
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
and the
Russian Far East
The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admini ...
to
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.
Spread in western Europe
Despite a temporary decline in individual regions of Europe, there has been a general increase and increase within the populated areas for more than 100 years.
In Germany, the map was only locally represented until the 1930s, from the middle of the century it was already widespread and in places frequently encountered. In the second half of the 20th century it spread in Germany to the north and west across Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein and the Netherlands to the North Sea coast. Already 1881 it was present in Jutland (Denmark). In 1955, the northern distribution limit of indigenous Danish populations was Falster, Lolland and Zealand. It reached Sweden in the 1970s, and in 1973 it was first seen in Finland. ''A. levana'' was found on May 30, 1973, in southeastern Finland, in Lauritsala, by a young lepidopterist, Mr Jouko E. Hokka. The specimen was the first known ''A. levana'' in northern Europe, excluding Denmark. Since 1983, the map has been established in Finland and has since steadily increased its area.
In the UK this species is a very rare vagrant, but there have also been several unsuccessful – and now illegal – attempts at introducing this species over the past 100 years or so: in the Wye Valley in 1912, the Wyre Forest in the 1920s, South Devon 1942, Worcester 1960s, Cheshire 1970s, South Midlands 1990s. All these introductions failed and eggs or larvae have never been recorded in the wild in the UK. (Under the
Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom implemented to comply with European Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds. In short, the act gives protection to native species (especia ...
it is now illegal to release a non-native species into the wild.)
Description in Seitz
![Araschnia levana caterpillar - Keila](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Araschnia_levana_caterpillar_-_Keila.jpg)
''A. levana'' L. (64d) has on a reddish ochreous ground a characteristic pattern of spots, some whitish subapical and distomarginal spots on the forewing and a row of blue bars near the distal margin of the hindwing. The underside of the forewing on the whole agrees with the upper, but the apical area bears violet dusting, the ground-colour is paler, and there are sharply defined white lines at the cell-spots; the hindwing is for the greater part red-brown, bearing in the centre a pale transverse band which widens behind, in places light lines traverse the wing and there is a dull violet smear in the distal area; the margin of both wings bears thin black lines. This is the first brood, which flies early in the spring (April—May). There occur among the ordinary form occasionally specimens in which the black basal and costal markings are confluent and both
wings dark-margined, while the other markings of the wings (in the centre) are quite or nearly obsolete, these areas therefore being nearly uniformly red-brown. This is ab. ''frivaldszkyi'' Aigner. The summer-brood (July till August), sometimes also a third brood (September—October), is essentially different, being known as ab. ''prorsa'' L. (64d). Black, the forewing with white spots, the hindwing with a white transverse band; for the greater part red-brown beneath, with whitish lines and bands. On the upperside there appear vestiges of reddish yellow lines at the distal margin; specimens in which these lines are absent or only in places slightly indicated, while the white markings are narrowed, are ab. ''obscura'' Fruhst. (64f). If the white marking is narrowed to a yellowish stripe, or if the hindwing is entirely black, the name ab. ''schultzi'' Pfitzn. may be employed. Specimens in which the upperside is entirely without white bands, the small spots in the distal area being either present or absent, have been named ab. ''weismanni'' Fisch. (artificially produced). On the other hand the individuals with the bands partly yellowish and the reddish yellow distal markings strongly developed may be named ab. ''intermedia'' form. nov. (64d); not rare in nature, being especially frequent in wet and cold summers. It forms the transition to ab. ''porima'' O. (64d) which is already so much changed in the direction of the spring-brood that the reddish yellow colour in the distal area forms the ground-colour, the bands of ''prorsa'', however, still being visible. Finally, ab. ''diluta'' Spul. is an artificially produced variety which resembles ''porima'', but the forewing has an archaic Nymphalidian character in the row of spots recalling the ocelli found in the Satyrids. All these forms are connected by intergradations, ''prorsa'' being considered the more recent form, which can be changed by the application of cold into ''levana'' (the ancestral form), while the inverse does not take place. — The egg of the species is ovate, flattened above, ribbed, of a greenish colour. The larva feeds on ''
Urtica dioica
''Urtica dioica'', often known as common nettle, burn nettle, stinging nettle (although not all plants of this species sting) or nettle leaf, or just a nettle or stinger, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Urticaceae. Ori ...
'' gregariously; it is black or pale brown with black stripes, sometimes with a reddish side-line, armed with short branched thorns, which are black, sometimes yellow. Pupa brown, spotted with blackish, the projections of the head and back obtuse, sometimes with metallic spots. The pupa of the last brood hibernates. The species is distributed over Central and East Europe (except England) southward to Dalmatia, through Armenia, Siberia, Amurland, Ussuri, Corea to Japan (here apparently in 3 broods), the varieties recurring in the East without showing any striking or constant differences from those of the West.
[ Stichel, H. in Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, ''Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter'', 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren)]
Seasonal dimorphism
The map is unusual in that its two annual broods look very different. The summer brood are black with white markings, looking like a miniature version of the
white admiral and lacking most of the orange of the pictured spring brood.
Biology
The eggs are laid in long strings, one on top of the other, on the underside of
stinging nettle
''Urtica dioica'', often known as common nettle, burn nettle, stinging nettle (although not all plants of this species sting) or nettle leaf, or just a nettle or stinger, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Urticaceae. Or ...
s, the larval food plant. It is thought that these strings of eggs mimic the flowers of the nettles, thereby evading predators. The larvae feed gregariously and
hibernate
Hibernation is a state of minimal activity and metabolic depression undergone by some animal species. Hibernation is a seasonal heterothermy characterized by low body-temperature, slow breathing and heart-rate, and low metabolic rate. It most ...
as pupae.
The map prefers moist habitats with stinging nettles, as they are found in open forest, at forest edges and transitional moors. both the needs of the caterpillars for high humidity and shade as well as the moths for abundant flowering perennials must be met. The insect lives in the flat and hilly country of the lowlands and rarely rises more than 1000 meters.
Araschnia levana caterpillar.jpg, Caterpillar
File:Map (Araschnia levana) form prorsa female Piatra Craiului.jpg, form ''prorsa''
File:Map (Araschnia levana) form prorsa underside Piatra Craiului.jpg, from ''prorsa'' underside
Araschnia levana MHNT CUT 2013 3 15 Forme printanière Toulouse Dos.jpg, form ''levana''
Araschnia levana MHNT CUT 2013 3 15 Forme printanière Toulouse Ventre.jpg, form ''levana '' underside
Araschnia levana MHNT CUT 2013 3 15 Forme estivale Compiegne Dos.jpg, form ''prorsa''
Araschnia levana MHNT CUT 2013 3 15 Forme estivale Compiegne Ventre.jpg, from ''prorsa'' underside
References
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1137199
Araschnia
Butterflies of Asia
Butterflies of Europe
Butterflies described in 1758
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus