Chrono–geographical approach to analysis of variability of bicyclic Erebia ligea (L.) (Lepidoptera: Satyridae) species in the Urals

Abstract

The phenotypic variability of a complex of metric traits (the length of fore and hind wings and diameters of wing pattern spots) in populations of trans-Eurasian Erebia ligea species in different landscape–zonal and climatic conditions of the Ural region has been analyzed. It is demonstrated that protandry, bicyclicity, and imago emergence, mainly in odd years, are inherent for the E. ligea in the Ural territory. The geographical variability of sizes is characterized by a cline consisting in a gradual increase in imago sizes in the direction from north to south. The chrono–geographical approach allowed us to establish the scale of observed differences: differences of a complex of analyzed traits caused by chronographic variability are the largest, followed by those caused by sexual, geographical, and—only at the very end—seasonal variability (that is, the time of imago emergence during generation flight).