''Rapala arata'', the Japanese flash, is a
butterfly of the family
Lycaenidae. It is found from
Russia (Amur, Ussuri, Sakhalin and the southern Kuriles), north-eastern
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
,
Korea and
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. The habitat consists of brook banks, meadows and the edges of montane mixed forests.
The length of the forewings is 14–17 mm. The upperside of the wings is dark violet with a dark outer border.
Lycaenidae of Asian Russia
/ref> Adults are on wing from late May to late August in two generations in the southern part of the range. In the north, there is one generation with adults on wing in June.
The larvae feed on , Saxifragaceae, Ericaceae, Rhamnaceae
The Rhamnaceae are a large family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. Rhamnaceae is included in the order Rosales.
The family contains about 55 genera and 950 species. The Rhamnaceae h ...
and Fagaceae
The Fagaceae are a family of flowering plants that includes beeches, chestnuts and oaks, and comprises eight genera with about 927 species. Fagaceae in temperate regions are mostly deciduous, whereas in the tropics, many species occur as evergre ...
species. They mainly feed on inflorescences, buds and berries. They are attended by ants. The larvae are brownish, greenish or purple depending on the host plant. Pupation takes place in a reddish-brown pupa with dark markings. It is made on the ground among leaf litter. The species hibernates in the pupal stage.
References
Rapala (butterfly)
Butterflies described in 1861
{{Theclinae-stub