Polygonia c-aureum

Japanese: キタテハ（英語表記）Polygonia c-aureum

A butterfly of the Nymphalidae family of the Lepidoptera order. Forewing length is about 27mm. The outer edge of the wings has rough sawtooth-like irregularities. The upper side of the wings is yellowish brown with black spots, and the underside is yellow with irregular brown yellow bands that resemble bark. There is a small C-shaped white mark in the center of the underside of the hindwing. The autumn type is dark in color and the outer edge of the wings is noticeably uneven. The larvae feed on the leaves of the Japanese knotweed of the Mulberry family, and the adults gather on the sap and flowers of Quercus acutissima. They overwinter as adults. The first generation of adults appears in May and June, and they continue to emerge until autumn. They are distributed in Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Korea, Taiwan, China, and Indochina. The closely related P. c - album is similar to this species, but is more mountainous, has deeper notches on the outer edge of the wings, and is darker on both the upper and lower sides. The C-shaped pattern on the underside of the hind wings is large and very clear in the autumn type. Its distribution range extends westward from this species, to the Himalayas, Europe, and northern Africa. The Japanese subspecies is P. c. hamigera . Its main food plants are the Japanese elm, autumn elm, Chinese hackberry, and Chinese hackberry of the Ulmaceae family, but it also eats the Chinese lupin of the Mulberry family and the Chinese hackberry of the Urticaceae family.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

鱗翅目タテハチョウ科のチョウ。前翅長 27mm内外。翅の外縁にあらい鋸歯状の凹凸がある。翅表は黄褐色で黒色斑があり，裏面は黄色地に褐色の不規則な黄色帯が樹皮状模様を表わす。後翅裏面中央にC字形の小白色紋がある。秋型は濃色で，翅の外縁の凹凸が著しい。幼虫はクワ科のカナムグラの葉を食べ，成虫はクヌギなどの樹液や花に集る。成虫で越冬。第1代の成虫は5～6月に出現し，以後秋まで発生を繰返す。北海道，本州，四国，九州，朝鮮，台湾，中国，インドシナに分布する。近縁のシータテハ P. c-albumは，本種に似るがより山地性で，翅の外縁の切れ込みが深く，翅表・裏ともに濃色である。また後翅裏面のC字状紋は大きく，秋型ではきわめて明瞭である。分布域は本種より西方へ広がり，ヒマラヤ，ヨーロッパ，アフリカ北部に及ぶ。日本産は亜種 P. c. hamigeraという。食草はニレ科のハルニレ，アキニレ，オヒョウ，エノキが主であるが，クワ科のカラハナソウ，イラクサ科のコアカソなども食べる。

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