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CHARACTERISTIC DETAILS OF THE SPECIES Melitaea phoebe and Melitaea ornata

The two species are very similar in UPF, UNF and UPH while the UNH are slightly different in the submarginal area.

Their caterpillars (from stage L4 onwards) differ in the color of the head, which is black in Melitaea phoebe and red in Melitaea ornata. An overview at http://diatheo.weebly.com/uploads/2/8/2/3/28235851/melitaea_ornata_anglais.pdf

In the islands of the eastern Aegean and in the Peloponnese there is only the species Melitaea ornata.

Distribution maps and photos are presented.

In the work https://dea.lib.unideb.hu/dea/bitstream/handle/2437/131816/TothJP_diss.pdf;jsessionid=EB25CB4569A03EF1CF35A8441CDD5B0B?sequence=1 there are comments for additional suggested characteristic details of the wings of Melitaea ornata and Melitae phoebewhich have been suggested to be useful in identifying, but which have not yet been fully confirmed (such as the shape of the clubs of the antenna, on page 68, which seems to apply in several cases but not completely).

In a recent paper by Joan C Hinojosa, et al.: Integrative Taxonomy Reveals a New Melitaea (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) Species Widely Distributed in the Iberian Peninsula, Insect Systematics and Diversity, Volume 6, Issue 2, March 2022, 1, https://doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixac004  the new species Melitaea pseudornata found (in Spain, with two generations), very similar to M. phoebe.