''Aulocera merlina'' is a butterfly found in the east

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 ...

that belongs to the browns family (Nymphalidae). The species was first described by

Charles Oberthür Charles Oberthür (14 September 1845 – 1 June 1924) was a French amateur entomologist specializing in lepidoptera. Biography Charles Oberthür was born in Rennes, the son of the printer François-Charles Oberthür and Marie Hamelin, and brot ...

in 1890. It is endemic to Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in China. Subspecies ''A. m. pulcheristriata'' Huang, 2001 is described from Tibet (type locality between Quzhu and Genong, Nujiang Valley, Tibet).

Description from Seitz

''S. merlina'' Oberth. (41 e). In size, facies and colour similar to '' circe'', but on the forewing the portion of the white band which lies below the apical ocellus is divided by the interposition of black spots, and the cell of the forewing beneath bears a white longitudinal stripe. In western China, widely distributed, and not rare, from June till August.Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, ''Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter'', 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren)

Biology

The larva feeds on Gramineae.

References

Satyrinae Butterflies described in 1890 Taxa named by Charles Oberthür Butterflies of Asia {{Satyrinae-stub