''Sasakia charonda'', the Japanese emperor or great 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 appropriat ...

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

in the family

Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have a red ...

. It is native to

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 n ...

(from

Hokkaidō is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

), the

Korean Peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, northern

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

and northern

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...

. Its wingspan averages for males, and for females. They are common in the upper canopies of forests, only coming down to feed or to find

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

sources. The

larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. ...

e of the species feed on hackberries, like ''

Celtis jessoensis ''Celtis jessoensis'', known as the Japanese hackberry or Jesso hackberry (from an archaic reading of "Ezo": Hokkaidō) is a species of hackberry native to Japan and Korea. It is a deciduous tree growing to 20–25 m tall. The leaves ...

'', '' Celtis japonica'' and ''

Celtis sinensis ''Celtis sinensis'' (English: Chinese hackberry; Chinese: ; Japanese: ) is a species of flowering plant in the hemp family, Cannabaceae, that is native to slopes in East Asia. Description It is a tree that grows to 20 m tall, with deciduo ...

''. ''S. charonda'' is the national butterfly of Japan, where it is known as or (''ō-murasaki'', "great purple"). Its Chinese name is (Traditional Chinese, ''dàzǐjiádié'', "big purple butterfly") and the Korean name is , which means "king five-coloured butterfly".

References

External links

* Apaturinae National symbols of Japan Butterflies of Asia Butterflies described in 1863 Taxa named by William Chapman Hewitson Butterflies of Japan Butterflies of Indochina Insects of Korea Lepidoptera of Taiwan {{Apaturinae-stub

See also

References

External links