Subject: Nymphalid Butterfly Mystery
Geographic location of the bug: Beijing, China
August 29, 2017
Greetings Mr Bugman,
I came across this butterfly in a park in Beijing. I am having trouble identifying it, but to me it looks like a member of the Nymphalidae family. I thought it belonged to the genus Vanessa, but now I’m having some doubts. I will be grateful if you can help me identify this butterfly! Thank you very much!
How you want your letter signed: Jonathan
Dear Jonathan,
We did not have any luck identifying your Brush Footed Butterfly, but we do agree it is in the family Nymphalidae. Perhaps one of our readers will have better luck and write in to us with an identification.
Karl Identifies Emperor Butterfly
Nymphalid Butterfly Mystery, Beijing, China – August 29, 2017
Hello Daniel and Jonathan:
This is an Emperor butterfly in the genus Apatura. A number of species are native to China, all somewhat similar and diverse. The closest I can find is Apatyra ilia, which ranges all through Europe, Russia and northern Asia to Japan. There are a lot of images online, but you could check out this site (click on the thumbnails at the bottom of the page). There are a few species that I could not find illustrations for so there could be something closer. Regards. Karl
Thanks so much Karl. We did try unsuccessfully to search the same genus as the Hackberry Emperor, the North American butterfly that most closely resembled this individual in our opinion.