''Apatura ilia'', the lesser purple emperor, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

native to most of Europe and east across the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

. It is named for its similarity to the

purple emperor ''Apatura iris'', the purple emperor, is a Palearctic butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. Description Adults have dark brown wings with white bands and spots, and a small orange ring on each of the hindwings. Males have a wingspan of , an ...

butterfly.

Description

The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is in the female and in the male. The upper side of the wings is dark brown, with metallic blue-violet hues in the male, and it has a clear postdiscal band on the hind wing and several light spots on the fore wing. These clear areas can be presented in two different aspects; they are white on the butterflies of the nominal form ''ilia'', and clear fawn in the form ''clytie''. For both forms, the fore wing also has an orange-coloured ocellus, which makes differentiating the species from ''

Apatura iris ''Apatura iris'', the purple emperor, is a Palearctic butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. Description Adults have dark brown wings with white bands and spots, and a small orange ring on each of the hindwings. Males have a wingspan of , and ...

'' possible. A similar ocellus is present on the hind wing in both species. The reverse side of the fore wing is brown and the back of the hind wing is dull brown with, as in ''A. iris'', an orange ocellus centered in black. File:Kleiner_Schillerfalter_-_Jungraupe_02_%28HS%29.JPG, Caterpillar File:Apatura ilia eyespot.jpg, Black dot of ''Apatura ilia'' right fore wing, ventral side, male File:Apatura_ilia_3.jpg,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Lesser purple emperor (Apatura ilia ilia f. clytie) composite.jpg, Composite ''A. i. ilia'' f. ''clytie'',

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Lesser purple emperor (Apatura ilia ilia f. clytie) underside.jpg, ''A. i. ilia'' f. ''clytie'',

Mounted specimens Apatura ilia MHNT CUT 2013 3 18 Compiegne Dos.jpg, ''Apatura ilia ilia'', male dorsal Apatura ilia MHNT CUT 2013 3 18 Compiegne Ventre.jpg, ''Apatura ilia ilia'', male ventral Apatura ilia f. clytie MHNT CUT 2013 3 18 Male compiegne dorsal.jpg, ''Apatura ilia ilia'' f. ''clytie'', male dorsal Apatura ilia f. clytie MHNT CUT 2013 3 18 Male compiegne ventral.jpg, ''Apatura ilia ilia'' f. ''clytie'', male ventral

Biology

''A. ilia'' flies from May to September in one or two generations. It feeds on tree honeydew and flies near their summit. It goes down only to find moisture, honeydew shrubs or excrement. The eggs are laid singly on leaves. The caterpillar host plants are willows and poplars, in particular ''

Populus tremula ''Populus tremula'' (commonly called aspen, common aspen, Eurasian aspen, European aspen, or quaking aspen) is a species of poplar native to cool temperate regions of Europe and Asia, from Iceland and the British IslesJames KilkellIrish native ...

'' and ''

Populus nigra ''Populus nigra'', the black poplar, is a species of cottonwood poplar, the type species of section ''Aigeiros'' of the genus ''Populus'', native to Europe, southwest and central Asia, and northwest Africa.Flora Europaea''Populus nigra''/ref> ...

''. ''A. ilia'' either pupates in the same year or winters as a young caterpillar, becoming brown, stuck to a twig. The greyish green chrysalis hangs from a leaf or twig.

Ecology and distribution

It is present in most of Europe and across the Palearctic to Japan. However, it is absent from the European Mediterranean islands and the southernmost regions, from the majority of Spain and Portugal, southern Italy and Greece, as well as Nordic countries (Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Poland, northern Germany and the British Isles). This species belongs to a group of 35 European butterflies for which ecologists had sufficient data to assess the possible movements of their range in Europe. Of these 35 butterflies studied, Apatura ilia was an exception - it is the only species that has seen the northern limits of its area move slightly down to the south while its southern limit remained stable.

Cultural references

*It is named in the

Classical tradition The Western classical tradition is the reception of classical Greco-Roman antiquity by later cultures, especially the post-classical West, involving texts, imagery, objects, ideas, institutions, monuments, architecture, cultural artifacts, ritua ...

, Ilia was the mother of Romulus and Remus in Roman mythology. *In March 1987

DPR Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

issued a

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

depicting ''Apatura ilia''.

References

External links

''Apatura ilia''
at Native Butterflies of Europe

at ButterflyCorner.net {{authority control Apaturinae Butterflies of Asia Butterflies of Europe Butterflies described in 1775