Euphydryas aurinia (Rottemburg, 1775) forma banghaasi Seitz, 1908.
An example of an unclear taxonomical situation.
In South Siberia, from Altai to Baikal, this species
is represented by two forms: the typical inhabiting low
altitudes and a peculiar f. banghaasi Seitz, 1908, which
differs from the former by paler colour and substantially
smaller size and is confined to highlands, inhabiting mostly
marchy dwarf-birch thickets at 1600-2800 m above sea level.
No intermediates are found, as well as the habitats of the
forms are fully separated by the forest belt. An analogous form merope exists in
the Alps. Higgins wrote he would ascribe the apline forms a species rank if there
were any difference in the genitalia existing. Some authors, however,
considered banghaasi as a distinct species (Lukhtanov, Lukhtanov, 1994).
Range of the species: S Europe, S Ural and S Transuralia, the mountains of S
Siberia east to Kentei Mts., E Kazakhstan and Mongolia; the
Prilenskoe Plateau; Ural and Yakutia rare.
On Aster aplinus
An alpine meadow patch neighbouring with the most elevated larch wood outposts in
the Kamdyt valley, a Tekelyu River right tributary which in turn is an Akkem River right
tributary, the Katunskii Range northern principal slope, Central [Russian} Altai Mts.,
Ust'-Koksa District, Altai Rapublic, West SIberia, Russia. 1st July 2007. O. Kosterin.