Hestina assimilis (Linnaeus, 1758)

(Fig. 13)

Papilio assimilis Linnaeus, 1758: 479 [Type locality: “Kanton”, southern China].

Hestina assimilis: Butler, 1883: 110 (first record from Korea); Fixsen, 1887: 289; Leech, 1887: 419; Leech, 1893: 143; Stichel, 1908: 193; Doi, 1919: 123; Nakayama, 1932: 379; Seok, 1934: 731; Seok, 1939a: 180; Seok, 1939b: 112; Seok, 1942: 88; Seok and Umitatsu, 1942: 187; Kim and Mi, 1956: 397; Lee, 1971: 13; Seok, 1973: 148; Lee, 1973: 6; Shin, 1975: 45; Lee, 1982: 77; Chou, 1994: 447; Lee, 2005: 27.

Parhestina assimilis: Moore, [1896]: 38.

Hestina assimilis assimilis: Okamoto, 1924: 89; Doi, 1931: 45; Mori et al., 1934: 36; Inomata, 1982: xix; Okano, 1998: 6.

Hestina assimilis coreana Kishida and Nakamura, 1936: 537 [Type locality: Korea].

Subspecies. The Korean populations are considered to belong to the nominal subspecies, although subsp. coreana was suggested by Kishida and Nakamura (1936), because no morphological differences are recognizable between the Korean populations and the nominal subspecies.

Adult. Active from late May to early July and late July to mid September (two broods in C. Korea). Males are often seen sitting on the ground (Fig. 13) or sucking water from the ground, and they are also seen feeding on decomposing organisms and fermenting sap fluids of trees. In the afternoon, they move to mountain peaks or ridges to sit on trees and engage in hilltopping. Females are attracted to fermenting fluids, especially fluxes issuing from oak trees.

Larval host plants. Celtis jessoensis, Celtis sinensis, etc. (Joo et al. 1997).

Life cycle. The 4th or 5th instar larvae hibernate mainly on undersides of dry fallen leaves on the ground below the food plants. See Harada and Igarashi (1993).

Distribution. Korea (excluding northeastern mountainous areas of the Korean Peninsula, but including Jejudo Is., some adjacent islands of Incheon and Gyeonggi-do and some islands of Jeollanam-do), China (including Tibet), Taiwan and Japan (Amami Islands).