Lesser purple emperor

Apatura ilia

"Apatura ilia", the lesser purple emperor, is a species of butterfly native to most of Europe and temperate Asia. It is named for its similarity to the purple emperor butterfly.
Apatura ilia f. Clytie The male of the Lesser Purple Emperor has the distinction of having a blue iridescence that appears by exposure to light. The clytie form for this species has orange stripes on top of its wings while they are white in specimens of Ilia form : https://www.jungledragon.com/image/72278/apatura_ilia.html Underside wings : https://www.jungledragon.com/image/72279/apatura_ilia.html Apatura,Apatura ilia,Apaturinae,Butterfly,Clytie,France,Geotagged,Insecta,Lepidoptera,Lesser Purple Emperor,Limousin,Nymphalidae

Appearance

The wingspan is 55–60 mm. The insect flies from June to July depending on the location.
Apatura ilia Lesser Purple Emperor resting on mint in my garden. Animal,Apatura,Apatura ilia,Apaturinae,Butterfly,Ditrysia,France,Geotagged,Insecta,Lepidoptera,Lesser Purple Emperor,Limousin,Macro,Nature,Nouvelle-Aquitaine,Nymphalidae,Spring

Cultural

*In March 1987 DPR Korea issued a postage stamp depicting "Apatura ilia".

References:

Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.

Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderLepidoptera
FamilyNymphalidae
GenusApatura
SpeciesA. ilia
Photographed in
Belgium
Bulgaria
Germany
France
Hungary
Portugal