Oeneis magna Graeser, 1888
Oeneis is a large genus inhabiting mostly polar and mountain
tundras, alpine meadows and screes, forest-tundras, some species
inhabit taiga or peat-moss bogs, only few of them penetrate into
the steppes. There are an immense number of hardly differing
taxa of a problematic rank and range. Some of them seem to be
parthenogenetic, that can partly explain ambiquity of species
limits in these very cases. The males of Oeneis exhibit the most
expressed territorial behaviour among Satyrids and have a very
swift and impetous flight. They occupy any noticeable objects
disturbing their even habitats.
This species in the Altai Mts. inhabits open coniferous forests of a
subalpine belt, close to the tree line. Males usually perch on
tree trunks and dry branches. They may fly far away when
chasing intruders but as a rule return. They usualy have several
closely situated perches and rest on either of them. Here a male
is photographed when it leaved its perches for feeding on the
flowers of Geranium krylovii Tzvelev, 1993, flowering around in mass.
Range: Polar Ural, Central and East Siberia, the mountains of S
Siberia, Kamchatka, the southern Far East, the Shantar Islands,
Mongolia, NE China. A local species.
Ssp.: dubia Elwes, 1899.; range: Altai and the West Sayan.
A subalpine larch parkland on the southern principle slope of
the Yuzhno-Chuiskii mountain range between the Chikty and
Akbul Rivulets, 2300 m above sea level, the upper Dzhazator River
basin, Kosh-Agach District, Altai Republic, West SIberia,
Russia. 11th July 1998. O. Kosterin.
Ареал: Полярный Урал, Средняя и Восточная Сибирь, горы Южной
Сибири, Камчатка, юг Дальнего Востока России, Шантарские острова,
СВ Китай, Монголия.
Ssp.: dubia Elwes, 1899.; ареал: Алтай и Западный Саян.