''Athamanthia phoenicura'' is a

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 ...

of the family

Lycaenidae Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterfl ...

. It was described by Julius Lederer in 1870 and is found in

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. 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 26–28 mm. The species inhabits semi-deserts between 300 and 1400 m above sea level. The host plant of the species is ''Atraphaxis spinosa''. The butterfly flies from May to June. The larvae have been recorded feeding on '' Atraphaxis spinosa''.

Subspecies

*''Athamanthia phoenicura phoenicura'' (Kopet-Dagh) *''Athamanthia phoenicura transcaucasica'' (Miller, 1923) (Armenia, Azerbaijan, north-eastern Turkey) *''Athamanthia phoenicura athamantides'' (Eckweiler & Hagen, 2001) *''Athamanthia phoenicura monalisa'' (Eckweiler, 2004)

References

External links

"''Athamanthia'' Zhdanko, 1983"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''

Lycaeninae Butterflies described in 1870 Butterflies of Asia Taxa named by Julius Lederer {{Lycaeninae-stub