First record of Dalmatian Ringlet(Protrebia afra) in Antalya

Dalmatian ringlet is one of the common species in Central Anatolia steppes in spring. In the South of Turkey the butterfly has very limited distribution.The butterfly flies in spring mainly between April and May depending on altitude.

In Antalya in 2013 I detected the steppe areas that the species might ocurr.It was in late May. In next year I went the area on late April after I saw the seasonal records of the species in central Anatolia but it was too early and I only saw one Queen of Spain Fritillary and that was the only butterfly in the area.2 weeks after I went to the area again the butterflies were started to flying but I couldn't find any specimen again.A year after I tried my luck again on the beginning of the May and I expanded my search and added another possible locations.No luck again.

I gave up on my search and thought that the butterfly does not exist in this region.Until I saw a record in Burdur 2016. The butterfly recorded only 15 km away from the area that I made my search.This made me wonder that maybe the butterfly could exist in the area with a very small population.

In 2020 on the peak time of Covid 19 pandemic I was only able to travel in Antalya.In the beginning of May actually occasionally we decided to go there again to see some spring butterflies. I entered the field and immediately I saw a very dark butterfly I started to chase with excitement but it could also be a dark form of Large Wall Brown butterfly. Then it stopped on a rock and I couldn't believe to my eyes it was the Dalmatian ringlet.Another luck was a cloud came in and closed the sunlight and I was able to take good photos of the dizzy butterfly.

Afterwards I checked the whole area and I have found 4 more speciements.I rechecked the area again 3 days after and I saw that there are more than 10 individuals also I found another small colony in another location.It was really great to find a good population of a new species and this was the story of how I added Dalmatian ringlet to the butterfly checklist of Antalya.