Apatura iris
| Purple emperor | |
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_male.jpg)
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| Male | |
_male_underside.jpg)
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| Both images are of the same male Bernwood Forest, Oxfordshire | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Nymphalidae |
| Genus: | Apatura |
| Species: | A. iris
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| Binomial name | |
| Apatura iris (
Linnaeus, 1758)[1] | |
| Synonyms | |
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Apatura iris, the purple emperor, is a
Description
Adults have dark brown wings with white bands and spots, and a small orange ring on each of the hindwings. Males have a wingspan of 70–80 millimetres (2.8–3.1 in), and have a purple-blue sheen caused by iridescence that the slightly larger (80–92 mm) females lack.[2] The larvae (caterpillars) are green with white and yellow markings, and have two large "horns" at the anterior end and a smaller one at the posterior.
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Dorsal side -
Ventral side
Description in Seitz
A. iris L. (5()a) is shot with violet-blue in the male, and is distinguished by the white band of the hindwing bearing distally a sharp tooth at the anterior median vein; the outer margin of the forewing is but slightly incurved below the apex. Female larger than the male, somewhat more broad-winged, brown, without blue gloss. The nymotypical subspecies is somewhat variable individually, there occurring for instance males with a pure blue gloss (Hungary), instead of violet-blue, or with the white markings flushed with rosy red, the marginal band of the hindwing being cinnamon-brown. Of known aberrations the following have received names: ab. thaumantis Schultz, the white markings enlarged and widened, the elsewhere but feebly marked pale spots larger and sharper, especially at the margin of the hindwing, on the underside of the forewing the russet-red scaling restricted by the widening of the black markings; in the hindwing the narrow dark marginal line is wanting, the white median band is more or less shaded with black; so far only males have been found at large, and but rarely, also artificially produced by experiments with temperature. — ab. jole Schiff. (50b, transition), the counter-part of the preceding: the white markings obsolescent except the subapical spots of the forewing, the latter also sometimes absent, the whole black wing-surface shot with blue. In all transitions towards the main form, also asymmetric specimens occur; occasionally with pale radiating smears in the distal area of the hind- wing. Everywhere rare among the main form, both sexes being known. — ab. lutescens Schultz, only the female observed, the white bands and spots shaded with darker or paler brownish yellow; likewise rarely met with at large. — Very singly there occur in this species females in which the upperside is irrorated with golden scales, which are more condensed in the posterior area of the forewing and the anterior area of the hindwing; this is ab. aurosquamosa Gillm. — The distribution of the nymotypical subspecies with its aberrations is as follows: Central Europe, Southern England, southwards to Spain, North Italy, Dalmatia, Roumania, Bosnia; Asiatic Russia, Asia Minor (Amasia). — Egg cylindrical, ribbed, yellowish or greenish, somewhat tinged with red. Larva on Salix caprea (sallow), Salix cinerea and aurita; when young brown, slug-like; after the first moult there appear 2 horns on the head, the colour becomes greenish; hibernates young on a pad of silk on a branch of the food-plant near a bud; in the spring (May) the third moult takes place, the body becomes leaf-green with yellow dots and side-stripes on the anterior segments, the head blue-green with red mandibles and white stripes, the horns green, anteriorly blue, edged with yellow laterally, reddish at the lip, forked; two reddish anal processes. Pupation the end of May or in June. Pupa compressed, bluish green or whitish, head with 2 projections, abdomen with yellowish oblique stripes, duration of pupal stage about 2 weeks. The butterfly at the edge of and in leaved woods, in the early morning found drinking on dewy roads in the woods and at puddles; it becomes more restless at a later hour, flying at a considerable height, is fond of foul-smelling matter (excrements, dung, urine, cheese) and is easily baited with them. The flight is strong and graceful. The butterfly rests with spread wings on a leaf of a tree or shrub and has, like the preceding species, the habit of returning to its resting-place or near it, if disturbed. The females rarely come down to the ground, remaining generally in the tree-tops. — In Amurland the brownish colour of the bands and spots is the rule in the female (cf. lutescens); the male is of especially large size, the ground-colour of the wings being less dark and the gloss stronger and of a lighter reddish blue. We have here do with a local form, for which it appears expedient to introduce the name amurensis subsp. nov. — In bieti Oberth. the markings are brownish yellow in the male, and resemble in shape and position those of the European form; but the blackish spot in the anal area of the forewing is eye-like, having a blue pupil, the eye-spot of the hindwing is enlarged and this wing bears, besides median band two other brownish transverse bands situated in the distal area. In the female the markings are yellowish, except the white subapical spots of the forewing. Tibet, West and Central China, in June and July, up to about 3000 m. — Along with this brown main-form there flies in the same districts a form which is white-spotted in both sexes, but is much larger than the European race and has a deeper chocolate-brown underside; it approaches the Amur form and may be named recidiva form. nov. in the female of this form there is usually still a dull, ochreous marginal band visible on the hindwing. [3]
Habits
Females spend most of their lives in the tree canopy, favouring dense and mature
Richard South noted that collectors once used animal carcasses "in a somewhat advanced state of decay" to lure the males down to the ground, adding that this practice was "unsportsmanlike"; otherwise one needed a "high net" mounted on a pole about 14 or 15 feet (about 4.5 metres) in length to capture them.[5][6] Heslop et al. noted that the males' penchant for roadkill can often cause them to be killed by cars.[7]
Life cycle
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.JPG)
They lay eggs in late summer on the upperside of
Distribution
Apatura iris is widely distributed in dense, broadleaved woodlands throughout
are found across the region (see below).British Isles
In Victorian times this species was regarded as being common in
South believed that once they had become uncommon, increased collecting had contributed "to the monarch's destruction" in many areas.[5] By 1989 the species had a stronghold in the remaining large broadleaved woodlands of Hampshire, Surrey and Sussex, but was still found in scattered localities elsewhere across southern England.[2] It has returned in large numbers to the Knepp estate in Sussex following re-wilding, as described by Isabella Tree.[8]
South noted that it had not been recorded from Scotland, and only doubtfully from Ireland, adding that "in Wales it is only found in Monmouthshire."[5]
Subspecies
- Apatura iris iris
- Apatura iris bieti Oberthür, 1885 (Tibet, western and central China)
- Apatura iris xanthina Oberthür, 1909
- Apatura iris kansuensis O. Bang-Haas, 1933
- Apatura iris amurensis Stichel, [1909] (Amur, Ussuri)
Cultural reference
A specimen of Apatura iris plays a key role in solving a murder mystery in Robert W. Chambers' 1897 short story, "The Purple Emperor." The species is also mentioned in Tolkien's The Hobbit, in chapter 8, "Flies and Spiders".
References
- ^ Apatura at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
- ^ ISBN 0-946589-25-9
- ^ Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter, 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren)
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ a b c Kirby W.F. (1903) The Butterflies and Moths of Europe, Cassell & Co. Ltd., London: 432 pp.
- ^ a b c d e f g South R. (1921) The Butterflies of the British Isles, (Second edition), Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd., London: 210 pp.
- ^ The accepted method was to mount an ordinary butterfly net onto a 13-foot squirrelling pole.
- ^ a b c d e Heslop I.R.P., Hyde G.E. & Stockley R.E. (1964) Notes and Views of the Purple Emperor, Southern Publishing Co. Ltd., Brighton: 248 pp.
- ISBN 9781509805099.
