Melanargia galathea, lateral view
Melanargia is a genus of butterflies of the subfamily Satyrinae tribe Satyrini subtribe Melanargiina belonging to the family Nymphalidae.

This genus, described by Johann Wilhelm Meigen in 1828, is the only genus in the subtribe Melanargiina, Wheeler, 1903. Once the genus Melanargia was classified as belonging to Satyridae.

The adults of this genus of satyrines are easily distinguished by their white wings with black veins and markings (hence the common name ‘marbled whites’). A peculiar phenotypic distinctiveness is also a dilated vein 12 at the base of the forewing.

Butterflies of genus Melanargia are widespread from Europe and north Africa to Japan.

List of Species and Subspecies

The investigations on genetic divergence and phylogenetic relationships among Melanargia species have recognized three subgenera (Melanargia, Argeformia, and Halimede) and reclassified the genus in 20 Species and relevant Subspecies as follows

Subgenus Melanargia, Meigen, 1829

Melanargia galathea (Linnaeus, 1758) - marbled white
Melanargia galathea ssp. galathea (Linnaeus, 1758) – in Europe
Melanargia galathea ssp. satnia Fruhstorfer, 1917- Caucasus.
Melanargia galathea ssp. magdalenae Reichl, 1975
'Melanargia galathea ssp. syracusana Zeller, 1847
Melanargia lucasi (Rambur, 1858) - northern Africa.
Melanargia lucasi ssp. lucasi (Rambur, 1858)
Melanargia lucasi ssp. meadwaldoi Rothschild, 1917 stat. rev.
Melanargia lachesis (H¨ubner, 1790) - Iberian marbled white
Melanargia evartianae Wagener, 1976 – northern of Iran.
Melanargia evartianae ssp. evartianae Wagener, 1976
Melanargia evartianae ssp. sadjadii Carbonell & Naderi, 2006 stat. nov.
Melanargia teneates (Ménétriés, 1832); northern Iran.
Melanargia teneates ssp. teneates (Ménétriés, 1832)
Melanargia teneates ssp. meda (Grum-Grshimailo, 1895)
Melanargia larissa (Geyer, 1828) - Balkan marbled white
Melanargia larissa ssp. larissa (Geyer, 1828)
Melanargia larissa ssp. hylata (Ménétriés, 1832) stat. nov. – in Turkey and Iran.
Melanargia larissa ssp. grumi Standfuss, 1892 stat. nov.
Melanargia larissa ssp. lorestanensis Carbonell & Naderi, 2007 stat. nov.
Melanargia larissa ssp. iranica Seitz, 1907 stat. nov.
Melanargia larissa ssp. taurica (Rober, 1896)
Melanargia larissa ssp. massageta Staudinger, 1901
Melanargia larissa ssp. karabagi Koc¸ak, 1976 stat. rev.
Melanargia larissa ssp. kocaki Wagener, 1983 stat. nov.
Melanargia larissa ssp. syriaca (Oberth¨ur, 1894) stat. nov.
Melanargia larissa ssp. titea (Klug, 1832) stat. nov. (= titania Calberla, 1891 syn. nov., = standfussi Wagener, 1983 syn. nov.)
Melanargia wiskotii Rober, 1896 stat. nov.
Melanargia russiae (Esper, 1783) - Esper's marbled white - in southern Europe to central Asia
Melanargia russiae ssp. russiae (Esper, 1793)
Melanargia russiae ssp. cleanthe (Boisduval, 1833)
Melanargia russiae ssp. japygia (Cyrillo, 1787)
Melanargia transcaspica (Staudinger, 1901) stat. nov.
Melanargia transcaspica ssp. transcaspica (Staudinger, 1901) stat. nov.
Melanargia transcaspica ssp. eberti Wagener, 1975 stat. nov.
Melanargia parce Staudinger, 1882
Melanargia lucida (Staudinger, 1886) stat. Nov.
Subgenus Argeformia Verity, 1953

Melanargia occitanica (Esper, 1793) - Western marbled white - in the southwest of Europe, northern Africa and Sicily.
Melanargia occitanica ssp. occitanica (Esper, 1793)
Melanargia occitanica ssp. pelagia (Oberthur, 1911)
Melanargia occitanica ssp. pherusa (Boisduval, 1832)
Melanargia ines (Hoffmannsegg, 1804) - Spanish marbled white - in Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya.
Melanargia ines ssp. ines (Hoffmannsegg, 1804)
Melanargia ines ssp. fathme Wagner, 1913 stat. rev.
Melanargia ines ssp. jahandiezi Oberth¨ur, 1922 stat. rev.
Melanargia arge (Sulzer, 1776) - Italian marbled white - in Italy

Subgenus Halimede (Oberth¨ur & Houlbert, 1922)

Melanargia leda Leech, 1891 - Tibet and western China.
Melanargia leda ssp. leda (Leech, 1891) (=yunnana Oberth¨ur, 1891 syn. nov.)
Melanargia leda ssp. melli Wagener, 1961
Melanargia halimede (Ménétriés, 1858) – in eastern Mongolia, north-east of China and Korea.
Melanargia halimede ssp. halimede (Ménétriés, 1858) (=gratiani Wagener, 1961 syn. nov.)
Melanargia halimede ssp. coreana Okamoto, 1926*
Melanargia meridionalis Felder, 1862 – central and western China.
Melanargia meridionalis ssp. meridionalis (C. & R. Felder, 1862)
b. Melanargia meridionalis ssp. tapaishanensis Wagener, 1961 stat. rev.

Melanargia lugens Honrath, 1888 – central China.
Melanargia lugens ssp. lugens (Honrath, 1888) (= ahyoui Wagener, 1961 syn. nov.)
Melanargia lugens ssp. hengshanensis Wagener, 1961 (= hoenei Wagener, 1961 syn. nov.)
Melanargia lugens ssp. montana (Leech, 1890) stat. nov.
Melanargia epimede Staudinger, 1892 – in eastern Mongolia, north-east of China and Korea
Melanargia epimede ssp. epimede (Staudinger, 1887)
Melanargia epimede ssp. pseudolugens (Staudinger, 1887)
Melanargia epimede ssp. ganymedes Heyne, 1895 stat. nov. - Tibet.
Melanargia asiatica (Oberthür & Houlbert, 1922) (= dejeani Wagener, 1961 syn. nov., = elisa Wagener, 1961 syn. nov., = sigberti Bozano, 2004 syn. Nov.) - in China
Gallery


Melanargia galathea, lateral view


Melanargia galathea


Melanargia arge


Melanargia ines


Melanargia lachesis


Melanargia occitanica


Melanargia russiae


Melanargia titea (Melanargia larissa ssp. titea)


source - Wikipedia