GB: Seabuckthorn Hawkmoth, F: Sphinx de l'Argousier, D: Sanddornschwärmer, RU: Oblepikhovyi Brazhnik, Yuzhnyi Brazhnik, H: déli szender
Deilephila bienerti Staudinger, 1874, Stettin. ent. Ztg 35: 91.Type locality: Shahrud [Imamrud], north-east Iran.
(Taxonomic note. This subspecies can be very variable in both coloration and size where numerous climatic conditions occur in close proximity to each other, such as in mountainous areas. Many of these forms were described as distinct subspecies but this is not warranted. Subspecies ornatus, transcaucasica, anatolica, bucharana, shugnana, malatiatus, caucasica and baltistana are therefore synonymized with subsp. bienerti and should be regarded as forms.)
Holarctic; Palaearctic (both eastern and western subregions). Pleistocene refuge: Polycentric -- Caspian, Iranian, Turanoeremic, Turkestan and Mongoloeremic refugia.
Wingspan: 65--80mm. Considerably paler and browner than related subspecies. A pale, oblique median line is noticeable on the underside of the forewing; hindwing patches more orange than red. Some large specimens found above 2000m in north-west Iran and Kashmir tend to f. caucasica in coloration.
Often common in mountainous, arid steppe, especially along rivers overgrown with Hippophae or Elaeagnus. Although found at any altitude from 400--3000m, most populations occur from 1000--2000m where H. rhamnoides often forms discrete thickets away from rivers. Attracted to the flowers of Cistanche at dusk (Shchetkin, 1956).
April to September, in two or three overlapping generations.
OVUM: As subsp. hippophaes, with up to 500 being laid by each female.
LARVA: Full-fed, 75--85mm. Dimorphic: unstriped or striped.
In early stages, very similar to subsp. hippophaes. Fully grown, usually also very similar to those of subsp. hippophaes; however, some are dark green with a dorsal lilac tint on the anterior segments and a broken, white ventro-lateral streak.
This stage lasts as little as 28 days, during which the larva basks quite openly on the topmost branches of its hostplant.
Often abundant from April to August.
Major Hostplants. Hippophae rhamnoides and Elaeagnus spp., especially E. angustifolia and E. hortensis in Tajikistan (Shchetkin, 1956).
Minor Hostplants. Possibly Daphne spp. (Thymelaeaceae).
PUPA: Similar to subsp. hippophaes; in the summer months it remains in this stage for no more than 20 days. Formed in a chamber in the soil, often up to 10cm deep (Chu & Wang, 1980b). Overwinters as a pupa.
None recorded.
Central (Rebel, 1933), south-eastern and eastern Turkey (Daniel, 1932; Daniel, 1939; de Freina, 2012), the Caucasus and southern Russia (Zolotuhin, pers. comm; Poltavsky, pers. comm 2003; Anikin, 2004), northern and central Iran (Bienert, 1870; Barou, 1967; Kalali, 1976; Ghassemi, Alemansoor & Alehossein, 2009), Turkmenistan (Danov & Pereladov, 1985) and Uzbekistan (Derzhavets, 1984), the southern Urals (Nupponen & Fibiger, 2002; Dubatolov, 2012), eastern Kazakhstan (Kondratiev coll., BM(NH)), western Xinjiang Province, China (Pittaway & Kitching, 2000), Tajikistan (Shchetkin, 1956), Afghanistan (Ebert, 1969; Daniel, 1971), northern Pakistan/Azad Kashmir (Karakoram Mountains, Juglot Valley, 2550m, 26.vii.2011 (leg. Balázs Benedek)), and north-west India/Kashmir (O. Bang-Haas, 1939) to the western Tian Shan.
As Elaeagnus angustifolia is widely planted as a hedge and windbreak throughout eastern Europe and Central Asia, this species has not only expanded its range northwards (Dubatolov, 2012) but may turn up as a vagrant far from its resident range.
The Anatolian plateau forms the western limit of this subspecies, although individuals can penetrate as far west as Istanbul.
Extra-limital range. In China, from Xinjiang Province (China) north to the Altai Mountains (Izerskiy, 1999) and eastwards across the provinces of Ningxia, Gansu, Shaanxi and Nei Mongol (Inner Mongolia) to Liaoning (Chu & Wang, 1980b; Pittaway & Kitching, 2000), and also Mongolia (Derzhavets, 1977). From these areas north to Karasuk (Dubatolov, 2012), the Tuva A.S.S.R. (Viidalepp, 1979; Izerskiy, 1999) and Lake Baikal (Kondratiev coll., BM(NH)) in Russia.
Northern Spain, southern France, southern Switzerland and northern Italy to Slovenia. Then, as a separate population, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, southern Ukraine, northern Greece, the Aegean Islands and western Turkey as subsp. hippophaes.
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