Maniola jurtina

Maniola jurtina (Linnaeus, 1758)

Type locality: Europe and Africa

Range: From Canary Islands to all of Europe and North Africa.

Habitat: Grassy, bushy places with an abundance of taller grasses; sometimes even on cultivated grounds, woodland clearings or margins, and heaths.

Flight Period: Late May to late September

Subspecies:

ssp. jurtina (Linnaeus, 1758) – Europe

ssp. hispulla (Esper, 1805) – Portugal, Spain;

ssp. hyperhispulla (Thomson,1973) – endemic to the Maltese Archipelago. Today it is only found in a couple of localities on the island of Gozo as it became extinct from Malta during the year 2000.

The table below shows the size in the wingspan between Maniola jurtina hispulla from Spain and Maniola jurtina hyperhispulla from Malta. The measurements are based on a sample of 12 specimens from each subspecies. All specimens are found in the collection of the author and all measurements are in millimetres. From the sampled specimens, it is clear that the local subspecies is on average bigger than the typical M. jurtina jurtina. Photos of both subspecies will be added soon.

	Maniola jurtina hispulla		Maniola jurtina hyperhispulla
wingspans (mm)	males	females	males	females
Specimen no. 1	42	42	34	47
Specimen no. 2	41	43	44	42
Specimen no. 3	42	45	45	47
Specimen no. 4	39	45	42	45
Specimen no. 5	43	47	45	47
Specimen no. 6	42	42	43	50
Specimen no. 7	37	47	41	46
Specimen no. 8	42	41	47	49
Specimen no. 9	42	45	45	50
Specimen no. 10	41	45	44	42
Specimen no. 11	34	47	41	46
Specimen no. 12	42	46	43	45
Average:	40.58	44.58	42.83	46.33
Maximum:	43.00	47.00	47.00	50.00
Minimum:	34.00	41.00	34.00	42.00
Median:	42.00	45.00	43.50	46.50
Mode:	42.00	45.00	45.00	47.00