Butterflies along the ríver Dráva
Levente Ábrahám - Sándor Farkas
Legrad^fLg^
Koprivnjpa
CROATIA
Mrovitku
NATÚR A 2000 areas in Hungary Danube-Drava National Park
Sampling areas of DRAVA-INTERECO project
H U N G A R Y
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DANUBE
Tnastir
DRÁVA
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From nature conservation aspects, Dráva river is one of Central-Europe's mostvaluable rivers. Belongingto the Danube water system, it has its spring in the Italian Alps and reaches the Danube in Croatia. From its source area it makes several hundred kilometres as a clear-water, rushing river, and when it reaches the Carpathian Basin it turns intő m affluent, middle and lower reach type of river. Dráva is one of the few European rivers that have preserved their naturalness at the lower reaches as well. It is a predominantly unregulated river, f reely building and destroying its shoreline, and producinggravel and sand shoals, side- branches and oxbows.The rivervalley crosses various types of terrain, contributingto the variability of the landscape along the river. At somé places the sanddunes of adjoining lands run right to the shoreline, but there are alsó steep loess walls dropping right down intő the rivervalley. Unique as such in entire Europe, in several places it ramifies to create complex wetland forests with dense vegetation and marshy areas, almost impermeable to humans. Its highly undisturbed nature is due to the fact that it runs alongthe state borderbetween Hungary and Croatia.
Howbeautif ul this untamed land is!
The preservation of natural values and landscape diversity has neverbeen as important duringthe history of mankind as it is today. The greatest challenge for nature conservation in the 21st century is the preservation of variability (diversity), because this is what serves as the basis for sustainable development.
The most commonly known indicators of such variability are species diversity and the spatial diversity of habitats. Our knowledge about the complexity of sophisticated functional relationships within living communitiesisstillincompletetoday.
Within biodiversity, the greatest pro
portion of species diversity is made up by invertebrate animals.
The number of invertebrate species indicated by nature conservation research pursued during the past two decades along river Drava is around 4000. The actual number of inverteb
rate organisms, though, is probably much higher, maybe reaching as many as 25 000 species.
This huge number of animals indicate dearly the high natural value of the Drava area.
One of the most species-rich group of invertebrate animals are butterflies and moths (Eepidoptera). Even in a relatively small area such as the Drava region, their numbers are beyond 2000. The majority of them - about 1300 species - are small-bodied moths flying usually at night. However, the largest insect species found in Europe also belongs to the group of moths (e.g. great peacock - Saturnia pyri). According to the tra
ditional division of moths and butterflies, another group is that of larger moths, about 90% of them being nocturnal species. Among larger moths, there are only few diurnal species (butterflies), yet they are the most well-known insects, due to their colourful appearance.
The life of a butterfly is usually very short, only seldom exceeding two weeks. The most important stages of their life is mating flight and copulation, ensuring continuity into the next generation. Fertilised females are careful in choosing the particular plant they are to deposit their eggs onto, as this hostplant will serve as food for the hatching caterpillars. The caterpillars of the majority of butterflies are food specialists, feeding on only one or just few plant species. The life of caterpillars is spent almost exclusively with feeding: they can consume green foliage matter as much as their own weight each day. Accordingly, they develop fast, and after a number of moults (replacement of old larval integument) they will eventually pupate. The pupae of butterflies are normally hung upside down on plant stems or tree trunks where they remain motionless.
Although butterflies appear dormant in a their pupa stage, in fact this is the time when there are the great
est changes during the life of a butterfly: the caterpillar develops into a magnificently coloured butterfly.
Butterflies are quite variable in colour. In most cases, different species can be easily identified based on the patterns of their wings, which are actually formed by the arrangement of tiny chitinous platelets.
This small brochure intends to provide information about the habitats of butterflies living along river Drava, and guidance for visual species identification.
The Drava rivershore is adjoined by riverine willow-poplar woodlands with fresh vegetation. The most typical trees of these forests are various willow and poplar species, and their undergrowth is always lush. Because of the proximity of the river, their atmosphere is fresh and humid. The most characteristic butterflies of these areas are purple emperors. They are named after the iridescent glow on the wings of male specimens. Their caterpil lars feed on various willows. Quite uniquely in entire Europe, three purple emperor species have their popula
tions alone Drava river.
The most frequent purple emperor species is the lesser purple emperor (Apatura ilia) [l]. The cross-bands on their bluish-iridescent wings are redish- brown, but sometimes one might encounter white banded specimens as well. There is no dentate protuberance in the discal band of their hindwings. In areas along Drava, two generations devel
op during one year. Lesser purple emper
ors fly in early summer and late summer.
Although with lesser numbers, some
times there are single-generation (uni- voltin) populations too, which tend to fly in mid summer.
The purple emperor (Âpatura iris) [2] is a typical species of montane areas. It is observed along Drava only occasionally.
Its caterpillars develop on sallow wil
low, in the edge of forests with cool microclimate. The cross-bands of the wings are always white, and the protu
berance on the cross-band of hind- wings is clearly observable. This species flies in the middle of summer.
The most valuable butterfly species of the Drava region is Freyer's purple emperor (Apatura metis) [3j. Its popula
tions are found in habitats directly at the rivershore. There is a strong protu
berance on the rust-brown cross-band of the hindwings. Two generations develop during a year. Male specimens are often encountered in groups, lick
ing on the moist sediment of the riverbed, but the females only rarely descend from the forest canopy It is a Natura 2000 species, enjoying special protection in the European Union.
Л characteristic butterfly of the Drava region is the southern festoon (Zerynthia polyxena) [4], with yellow-black wing pattern. There is no tail on its hindwings. Its adult specimens fly in springtime, in warm, sunlit areas and disturbed vegetation of the floodland. The caterpillars with yellow background coloration and orange warts feed exclusively on the leaves of birthwort. This host plant is a weed which can colonise only in floodland areas that are inundated from time to time, or on disturbed soil surface.The southern festoon is usually rare in the sub-Pannonian region; its most abundant populations occur along the floodlands of our large rivers.
Copper buttennes are small species with vivid red coloration.The large cop
per (lycaena dispar) [5j is a threatened species throughout Europe. It is a species typical of wet meadows and forest edges. Wings of the males are uniform red, with only a black discal spot being visible. On the upper side of the females' wings there are several dark spots. The underside of the hind- wings is bluish, with characteristic white-edged black dots (ocelli) being present on them. There are two genera
tions developing within a year.
Individuals of the first generation show territorial behaviour, whereas those from the second batch will roam about.
Populations of the large copper are threatened mostly by water regulation works carried out in their habitats. It is a Natura 2000 species, and its popula
tion shows a decreasing trend along Dravariveraswe
drizzled skipper (Pyrgus malvae) [6]
Common glider (Neptissappho) \7\
Short tailed blue (F.veresargiades) [8]
Chequered skipper (Carterocephaluspaleomon) [9]
Wood white (leptideasinapis) [10]
A peculiar group of blues (Lycaenidae) listed in Natura 2000 are the myrmecophylous maculinea blues (Maculineasp.), со existing with ants.The scarce large blue (Maculinea teleius) [11] and dusky large blue (Maculinea nausithous) [12] are definitely associated with drying bogs and marshy meadows with great burnet in them.
Both species lay their eggs into the inflorescence of great burnet plants, and then the third larval stage cater
pillars drop to the ground from the flowers, where they attract ants with their sweet body fluids and thus stim
ulate the ants to carry them home to the formicary. Inside the ant colony the caterpillars feed on ant pupae, and reach their pupa stage there. They will fly out in mid summer and in late-summer. These species are definitely sensitive to area management, for their metapopulations can considerably depend on the timing and the way of hay collecting in meadows with great burnet. The most favourable regime for these butterflies includes one grass cutting in late May and another cleaning one late in the autumn. When cutting the grass in the meadows, the use of heavy machinery should be avoided so that ant-hills are not destroyed.
Mazarine blue (Cyanir^semmgus) [l 3]
Chesnut heath
(Coenonympha gtycerkm) [14 ] Large chequered skipper (Heteropterus morpheas) [15]
Duke of Burgundy fritillary (Натеат1иста)[\Ь]
Heath fritillary (Mellicta athalia) [17]
Spotted íritillary (Melitaeadydima) [18]
Particularly important butterfly habitats along the Drava are meadows that are rich in flowers. These lands can be preserved only by nature conservation oriented land use including continuous management, hay collecting or grazing, lor centuries now, the survival of these types of habitats have been ensured by such human activities.
I
The floodplain of Drava is not an evenly plain terrain, instead the land
scape-transforming effects of the river are preserved In the form of smaller or greater elevations. Higher terrain patches are occupied by hardwood gallery forests with lush vegetation. In these forests the vegetation is dominated by pedunculate oak, common ash and elm species. Forest clearings, sunlit edges and glades are extremely impor
tant butterfly habitats. The most characteristic species in the butter
fly community of the forests that are humid all year long are mostly the large-bodied brush-footed butterflies.
Along river Drava, and especially in its hardwood riverine oak-ash-elm gallery forests, quite significant populations are found of the Natura 2000 listed scarce fritillary (Euphyáryas maturna) [19] and clouded Apollo (Parnassius mnemosyne) [201. Both species have only one generation during one year, and they take wing in late May Caterpillars of scarce fritillary initially feed in caterpillar nests' in the upper canopy of common ash, then when the heat of the summer commences, they drop down to the ground and find shelter in the litter where they will also spend the win
ter. The followingyear, the caterpillars continue to feed, now solitarily, on various herbaceous plants.
The clouded Apollo is similar to whites, but the tip area of its forewings is translucent, pergamenous, lacking any scales.The females have a strikingly large matingappendix. In the Carpathian Basin it is a species of hilly and moun
tain areas, and in lowlands only isolated, sporadic populations are found. In springtime, its caterpillars feed exclu
sively on Corydalis plants. Its preferred habitats are moist forests, oak-hornbeam woodlands and hardwood gallery forests. Local extinctions can be caused in both species by habitat drying due to clear cuttings, and by the disap
pearance of host plants which can result from the uprooting of tree-trunks or the expansion of locust-tree stands.
With dark purple wing colour and yellow wing margins, the camberwell beauty (Nymphalis antiopa) [21] can be easily distinguished from any other species. It is associated with forest-edge habitats of low-altitude mountains or moist lowlands where the various host plants of its caterpillars - willow and poplar species - grow. Their populations have gradually decreased during recent decades, due to improper forestry management practices.
Willows growing in margins are treated by forestry as 'weed trees' and are usually removed in the summer peri od which negatively influences several brush-footed butterfly populations.
Another Natura 2000 species is woodland brown (Lopinga uchine) |22], whose populations have become rarer throughout Europe. It is a single-generation species flying in June. Unlike most species of the browns, the adults are light-avoiding, often flying in the completely closed canopy. Its primary habitats are moist but warm low- mountain forests and lowland gallery forests.
Although there is considerable similarity between the appearance of the comma butterfly (Polygoniac-album) [23] and nettle-tree butterfly (IJbytheü celtis) [24 ], yet they belong to different families. The nettle-tree butterfly has tubular, elongated labial palpi. It is a migrating species. Both species have two generations within a year, and appear among the first butterflies in early spring. Their second generation flies in the summer period.
The most species-rich butterfly family is that of brush-footed butterflies. This family contains differently coloured and morphologically variable species. Our most widely known protected species belong to this taxon.
The peacock (Inachisio) [25] and the red admiral (Vanessa atalanta) [26] develop on stinging nettle; both are fre
quent species. Just like these species, the small tortoiseshell (Aglias urticae) [27] also used to be abundant, but today it is very rarely encountered. The possible reason is global warming. This species overwinters as an adult in tree hollows or crevices, but can take shelter even in cellars. The first warm spells often come too early in late winter when its specimens wake up from their hibernation, and large numbers will be killed in a repeated cold period which is caused by increasingly frequent extreme weather conditions. This problem has similar effects on populations of several other butterflies.
Another frequent species among brush-footed butterflies is painted lady (Itassa cardui) [28]. In some years it migrates in masses.
Adult butterfly specimens feed on nectar, sometimes aggregating in masses on flowering plants in forest edge.
The photo above shows this very situation along Drava river. Two female specimens of silver-washed fritillary (Argyunis paphia) [29] are seen on the sides of a male, feeding on the inflorescence of blackberry. The underside of the rear wings is greenish, with longitudinal markings. The caterpillars feed on violets. Although the host plant is not rare, the populations of this species show a decreasing tendency. Other species of forest edges include ringlet (Aphuntopushyperanthus) [30] ana hollyblue (Cehistriiwargiolus) [31].
The only way to identify many of the butterflies is to look at the underside of the wings, because the upper side is very similar in the case of related species. The brown hmsireak (Thedabetulae) [32] wears two tiny tails on its hind- wings, and the rusty brown underside is marked with thin silver lineation. The small pearl-bordered fritillary (Clossiana selentj [33] is a colourful species, with silvery shine appearing on the pointed markings in the outer mar
gin of the hindwings. On the greenish underside of the hindwings of the dark green fritillary (Mesoacidalia aglaja) [34], there are oval silver spots. All three species have sporadic distribution along Drava river.
The first butterflies to appear in spring are dingy skipper (Erynnis tages)\iS] belonging to skippers, and brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) [36] belonging to whites. Males of the latter are yellow, females are greenish yellow.
Habitats of Natura 2000 butterflies along Dráva
From investigations of the butterfly fauna it was found that Natura 2000 species in the Drava region occu
py their habitats along a hydro-ecological gradient, and react sensitively to environmental changes.
Freyers purple emperor (Apatura metis) is a strongly hygrophilous species, always found in softwood gallery forests, at rivershore sections directly beside the water.
Other hygrophilous species include large copper (Lycaenadispar), scarce large blue (Maculinea teleius), and dusky large blue (Maculinea nausithous), but their populations are found in marshy meadows and wet mead
ows with great burnet.
Scarce fritillary (Euphydryasmaturna) and woodland brown (Lopingaachine) are associated with margins of hardwood gallery forests.
Smaller or greater populations of clouded Apollo (Parnassius mnemosyne}, too, are found in forest edge habi
tats, but this species is already mesophilous.
The southern festoon (Zerynthia potyxena) cannot be fit into this hydro-ecological gradient, because its occurrences follow the distribution of its host plant. It is a monophagous species, feeding only on birthwort.
It is not always simple to determine exact habitat types for particular species, because quite often they are associated with different habitats in different developmental stages. The plant species composition is only one of habitat characteristics, besides which the structure of vegetation and the presence or absence of other factors can be equally important. These i nclude the existence of ants for maculinea blue (Maculinea), or humidity for Freyers purple emperor (Apatura metis).
Although it is predominantly wetland-loving species that are present along Drava, there are also several species which are present in each of a series of habitat types or which prefer semi-arid or completely dry habitats.
Safflover skipper (Pyrguscarthami) [37], Nickerls fritillary (Mellicttuiurelia) [38) and queen of Spain fritillary (Issoria lathonia) [39] are species typical of rather semi-arid habitats.
Throughout Europe, the most commonly known species of swallowtail butterflies is the swallowtail (Papilio machaon) [40], wearing a characteristic, inward-curving tail on its hindwings. Host plants for its caterpillars are umbelliferous plants; sometimes they are found even in gardens, on carrot plants.
The host plant for the caterpillars of scarce swallowtail (Iphiclidespodalirius) [41] is blackthorn and hawthorn, or in cultivated lands the leaves of various stone-fruit trees. The phenomenon of hilltopping' is a typical behaviour of swallowtail butterflies: at mating time, specimens find each other by locating the highest points of the terrain. In such places, males often exhibit territorial behaviour.
In the high summer season, meadow browns (Maniola)urtina) [42] are seen flying in all of the habitats along Drava.
Whites are the most common butterflies of forest edges. The pictures show nectar-licking brimstone (GoiK'pteryxrhwmi) [43] mu\ large white (Pierisbnissiaw) [44].
The wings of browns always have ocellate spots. Speckled wood (Porargeageria) [45] is a shade loving species flying , in shaded, closed forests.
Forest margins are more species-rich than closed forests. Caterpillars of the following two species live on forest shrubs.
Blue-spot hairstreak (Satyrium spini) [46] is a characteristic species of brown coloured hairstreaks, and can be easily distinguished from similar related species on the basis of the pattern on its hindwings. Its caterpillars develop on blackthorn, in forest edge habi tats.
Another species found commonly along Drava is marbled fritillary (Brenthis daphne) [47]. There is an extensive violet-coloured pattern on the underside of its hindwings.
Its caterpillars feed on blackberry fruiting prolifically in the forest edge.
A characteristic group within the family of whites is that of the yellow or orange coloured butterflies whose cater
pillars develop on herbaceous plants. A common species along Drava is pale clouded yellow (Colitis hyale) [48].
Its caterpillars feeding on grasses, the great banded grayling (Brintesia circe) [49] occurs in similar, semi-arid or dry habitats. Adult specimens fly in the second half of the summer season.
Small heath (Coenonymphapamphilus) [501 and Gldnvillc fritillary (Melitaea citmki) [31] arc typical butterflies of semi- \ arid and dry grassland habitats along Drava. Based on the array of spots in the margin of the hind wings, the latter. ' . species is easily distinguished from similar species. %\
In the majority of areas along the river, quite frequent species are pearly heath (Coemmympha arcania) [52], lesser spotted fritillary (Melitaea trivia) [53] and common blue (Polyommatus karus) [54]. The general coloration of males of the common blue is sky-blue, whereas its females are brownish.
their scattered solitary trees used for giving shade to the herded livestock, wooded pastures in the Drava region create a unique landscape with special atmosphere. Their butterfly fauna is richest in the early summer ĵeriod. Their most frequent species include whites (green-veined white - Pieris napi) [55], blues and skippers (large
»kipper - Ochlodesvenatus) [56].
River Drava runs through the Inner-Somogy sandy area. Arid, sandy habitats have evolved on more elevated patches, j but there are sparsely vegetated grassy habitats in the floodland as well, associated with the river itself. Typical but terfly species of these include marbled white (Melanargia galathea) [57], small copper (iycaena phlaeas) [58] and clouded yellow (Colias cwcea) [59]
Species typical of arid grasslands include bath white (Pontia dapledice) [60] and mallow skipper (Carchawdus alceae)\6ïl
The lesser fiery copper (Lycaena thersamon) [62j can be distingguished from the large copper on the basis of its smaller size, the ocellate spots on the underside of the wings (sometimes even seen on the upper side), and from its slightly iridescent coloration.
Although it appears almost everywhere in the Carpathian Basin, it remains sporadic along the Drava. Its popu
lations can appear, in addition to wetland habitats e.g. embankments along the river, also in arid low altitude mountain meadows. It has two generations in one season.
25
20
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21
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Protected Red book's Endangered Critical (CR) Bem Coiine list NBmS üst Nutura 2000 species speeies (EN) Conveetion (Annex II,
IV, V.)
Number of protected and endangered species along the Dráva.
Butterflies often congregate on animál droppings (lesser purple emperor-Apaturailia) [64] and besides wet habitat patches (revedrin's blue - Plebeius argyrognomon) [65], to lick on minerals and moisture.
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