Colias aias

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Colias aias
Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Butterflies (Lepidoptera)
Family : Whitelings (Pieridae)
Subfamily : Yellowlings (Coliadinae)
Genre : Colias
Type : Colias aias
Scientific name
Colias aias
Fruhstorfer , 1903

Colias aias is a butterfly of the family of Whites (Pieridae) in the subfamily of the yellow pieces . It occurs only very locally in the vicinity of active volcanoes in Japan.

features

Colias aias has a wingspan of 45 millimeters for males and 48 millimeters for females. The males look similar to the raised bog yellowfling ( Colias palaeno ). They are, however, larger and have a much wider black marginal band, especially on the forewings, where a broad black tooth extends proximally to the middle of the wing in the anal angle, while this tooth is either absent or only appears as a short, thin line in high moorlands in the Alps. Colias aias also has a more even and rich green color on the underside of the wing. The basal half of the forewings is yellowish and not orange, so that it is strongly reminiscent of C. palaeno from Lapland .

Similar species

  • Colias palaeno sugitanii Esaki , 1929, is the other species from the C. palaeno species complex that occurs in Japan . It flies in the Hida Mountains in the northern Japanese Alps in the border area of ​​the Nagano and Toyama prefectures .

Occurrence and habitat

Asama volcano

Colias aias lives in the border area of ​​the prefectures Nagano and Gunma on the Japanese main island Honshū at an altitude of over 2000 meters. The area is known for its active volcanoes. Occurrences are known from the mountains Asama , Kusatsu-Shirane , Azumaya , Kagonoto , Kakuma , Mizunoto , Neko , Shakuson , Takamine , Yunomaru , Sanpo-ga-mine , Yoshi-ga-daira and the Yamada Pass . Colias aias flies there on steep slopes, which mostly consist of lava, and on which blueberries ( Vaccinium ) still grow.

Flight and caterpillar times

The moths fly in one generation in September.

Hazard and protection

Colias aias is rare and protected. It occurs only in a few places where the food plants of the caterpillars grow and is latently threatened with extinction in the vicinity of active volcanoes.

Systematics

Colias aias was described by Fruhstorfer in 1903 as a subspecies of the raised bog yellowling. Fruhstorfer only had an unknown number of males without knowing their exact location. After its publication, he received other animals that he added to the type range, a practice that contradicts the International Rules for Zoological Nomenclature . The butterflies were sold and were no longer part of Fruhstorfer's collection when it was cataloged. Three Fruhstorfer butterflies, two males and one female, are now in the Zoological Museum of the National Taras Shevchenko University in Kiev . Of these, only one male can be a syntype , because females were not available at the time of description and the other male noted a location on the label. In Verhulst (2000), aias is still a subspecies of paleano with the forms nekkana (occurrence in China and synonym of C. palaeno poktussani ) and sugitanii . Grieshuber, Worthy and Lamas (2012) give aias species status, also because of its extraordinary habitat.

etymology

The species is named after Aias (Greek Αἴας, also Ajax), son of the Salami king Telamon. The name fits very well, as Aias is said to have been a great man and the moths were described by Fruhstorfer as the largest subspecies of the raised bog yellow.

literature

  • Josef Grieshuber, Bob Worthy, Gerardo Lamas: The Genus Colias Fabricius, 1807 . Jan Haugum'S Annotated Catalog Of The Old World Colias (Lepidoptera, Pieridae). Ed .: Munich Entomological Society. Tshikolovets Publications, Pardubice 2012, ISBN 978-80-904900-2-4 .
  • Joseph T. Verhulst: Les Colias du Globe . tape 1 : texts - text . Goecke and Evers, Keltern 2000, ISBN 3-931374-15-7 , pp. 81-85 .
  • Joseph T. Verhulst: Les Colias du Globe . tape 2 : planches plates . Goecke and Evers, Keltern 2000, ISBN 3-931374-15-7 (plate 18).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c J. T. Verhulst: Colias du Globe. Volume 1, 2000, C. paleano aias. P. 81.
  2. ↑ a b c d J. Grieshuber et al: The Genus Colias. 2012, sugitanii. P. 211 f.
  3. ↑ a b J. Grieshuber et al: The Genus Colias. 2012, aias. P. 36 f.

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