Sephisa princeps ( Fixsen, 1887 )

Lee, Young June, 2009, Apaturinae (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) from the Korean Peninsula: Synonymic Lists and Keys to Tribes, Genera and Species, Zootaxa 2169, pp. 1-20 : 13

Sephisa princeps ( Fixsen, 1887)

( Fig. 6 )

Apatura princeps Fixsen, 1887: 289 [Type locality: “Pung-Tung”, Korea] (first record from Korea).

Sephisa princeps: Leech, 1893: 151 ; Lee, 1971: 13; Seok, 1973: 228; Lee, 1973: 6; Shin, 1975: 45; Inomata, 1982: xviii; Lee, 1982: 76; Masui and Inomata, 1994: 3, 9; Dantchenko et al., 1996: 47; Tuzov et al., 2000: 15; Lee, 2005: 27.

Apatura cauta Leech, 1887: 417 [Type locality: “Chang-Do, south of Gensan, Corea ”].

Sephisa princeps var. albimacula Leech, 1890b: 190 [Type locality: “Chang-Yang”, China].

Sephisa dichroa f. princeps: Stichel, 1908: 165 .

Sephisa dichroa princeps: Nire, 1918: 96 ; Doi, 1919: 123; Doi, 1931: 45; Nakayama, 1932: 379; Seok, 1934: 745; Mori et al., 1934: 36; Kishida and Nakamura, 1936: 564; Seok, 1939b: 167; Seok, 1942: 88; Seok and Umitatsu, 1942: 188; Kim and Mi, 1956: 398.

Sephisa dichroa: Korshunov and Gorbunov, 1995: 71 (nec Kollar, [1844]).

Subspecies. The Korean populations are considered to belong to the nominal subspecies.

Adult. Active from late June to early September (one brood). Adults inhabit groves of oak trees near streams. Males are often encountered on the ground or on rocks near streams and are attracted to decomposing organisms or fermenting fluids, especially fluxes issuing from oak trees. In the afternoon, they move to mountain peaks or ridges to sit on oak trees and engage in hilltopping. Females are rarely seen as they spend much time around the crowns of tall deciduous trees, but they are sometimes attracted to fermenting sap fluid of trees or on shrubs near streams. Neither sex visits flowers. Mating occurs on the leaves of the food trees. Females lay eggs only inside rolled leaves. See Sohn (1995).

Larval host plants. Various species of the genus Quercus of the Fagaceae : Quercus mongolica Fisch. ex Ledeb. , Quercus variabilis Blume , Quercus serrata Thunb. ex Murray , Quercus acutissima Carruth. for. acutissima , etc. ( Sohn 1995).

Life cycle. Eggs are laid in batches of 15–45 inside rolled leaves of the host plants. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd instars hide in clusters inside rolled leaves. The 3rd instar larvae usually hibernate in the same manner. See Sohn (1995).

Distribution. Korea (including some adjacent islands of Incheon and Gyeonggi-do, but uncertain on Jejudo Is.), China and Far Eastern Russia.

Remarks. This species has sometimes been treated as a subspecies of Sephisa dichroa which occurs in the Himalayas, including northern India, Pakistan and Nepal. The two entities are allopatric divided by a considerable geographic distance. As indicated by Masui and Inomata (1994), Chou (1994), Dantchenko et al. (1996) and Tuzov et al. (2000), S. princeps is appropriately treated as an independent species.

Figures

FIGURES 3 – 10. Male specimens of eight species of the Korean Apaturinae. 3. Hestina japonica (Felder and Felder) (summer brood); 4. Sasakia charonda (Hewitson); 5. Mimathyma nycteis (Ménétriès); 6. Sephisa princeps (Fixsen); 7. Chitoria ulupi (Doherty); 8. Apatura ilia (Denis and Schiffermüller); 9. Apatura metis Freyer; 10. Apatura iris (Linnaeus).