''Coenonympha dorus'', the dusky heath, is a
butterfly of the family
Nymphalidae. It is found in south-western Europe and
North Africa.
The length of the forewings is 16–17 mm. Seitz ''C. dorus'' Esp. (= ''dorilis'' Bkh., ''dorion'' Hbn.) (48 f). male above entirely shaded with soot-colour, except the posterior portion of the disc of the hindwing; female reddish yellow with a broad black apex and distal margin to both wings. The hindwing above has a curved, proximally convex row of ocelli, which is very irregular on the underside. In South France, Spain and Portugal as well as in Italy, in stony places, not rare, in June and July. — The form ''austauti'' Oberth.
now the subspecies ''C. d. austauti'' Oberthür, 1881 has ochre-yellow smears on the forewing above, the white band on the underside of the hindwing is much more prominent; from western Algeria. — ''bieli'' Stgr., from Portugal, has the hindwing above strongly sooty in both sexes, nearly all the reddish yellow having disappeared from the disc, and the hindwing beneath has the ocelli as well as the metallic line strongly reduced. — ''andalusica'' Ribbe has likewise the ocelli on the hindwing beneath strongly reduced, whereas the upperside, especially of the females, is still bright clay-colour; from South Spain. — In ab. ''caeca'' Oberth. (48 f) the ocelli are entirely absent from beneath, but the light distal band is present as a unicolourous area; from the Pyrenees. — The ab. ''fulvia'' Oberth. (from the
Lozère), on the contrary, has the ocelli developed, but there is no light scaling around them, so that they are situated direct in the ground colour. — Nothing is known of the larva of ''dorus'' except that it is said (Ruhl) to feed on bent-grass (Agrostis).The butterfly is on the wing from June to August.
[ Seitz. A. 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)]
The larvae feed on various grasses.
References
External links
Butterflies of Europe
Coenonympha
Butterflies of Europe
Butterflies described in 1782
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