''Coenonympha hero'', the scarce heath, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises ...

species belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have a re ...

Distribution

It can be found in

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the ...

, Northern Europe and the North

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Si ...

(Urals East to Mongolia, Korea and Japan).

Description

It resembles '' Coenonympha arcania''.In Seitz it is described "On the upperside resembles '' Coenonympha oedippus'' smaller and just as dark, but on the hindwing 2 or 3 ocelli shine through from beneath as yellowish brown rings. On the underside itself the ocelli are placed in orange rings, and on their basal side there is a straight white line, which is thickened into knots on the veins. Northern and Central Europe and the whole of Northern Asia, from Sweden as far as the Alps, and from Belgium eastwards to the Pacific Ocean and Japan. ab. ''stolida'' Schilde, from Scandinavia, is smaller and darker, and the forewing bears a white distal band on their underside. In ab. ''perseis'' Led. ubspecies(= ''sibirica'' Stgr.) (48a), which in Eastern Asia occurs among the nymotypical form, but locally also flies alone, the white band before the row of ocelli on the underside of the hindwing is much widened. — Fruhstorfer separates from this form, as ''neoperseis'' ubspecies the specimens from Hokkaido, which are larger. — In ab. ''areteoides'' Fol., which is recorded from Belgium, the ocelli on the hindwing are obsolete. — Larva pale green, on lyme-grass (''Elymus'') and wood-grasses. In Europe the butterflies are on the wing in June and July, in Eastern Asia according to Graeser in two broods; in woods of leaved trees and in meadows « overgrown with bushes. The specimens of ''hero'' rise higher in the air in their flight than the pale species of ''Coenonympha'', and slightly recall small '' Erebias''; they occur more singly and usually very locally, and one does not easily catch more than a few specimens in one day. Seitz. A. in Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, ''Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter'', 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren)

Subspecies

*''Coenonympha hero latefasciata'' (Matsumura, 1925) Kunashir *''Coenonympha hero perseis'' (Lederer, 1853) Asia to the Pacific *''Coenonympha hero pilwonis'' (Matsumura, 1925) Sakhalin *''Coenonympha hero sabaeus'' (Fabricius, 1775) Northeast Europe and West Siberia *''Coenonympha hero neoperseis'' Fruhstorfer, 1908 Japan *''Coenonympha hero coreana'' Matsumura , 1927, Korea *''Coenonympha hero sabaeus'' Fabricius , 1775, Eastern Europe, Urals , West Siberia (MHNT) Coenonympha hero - Krakow Poland - male dorsal.jpg, ''Coenonympha hero'' ♂ (MHNT) Coenonympha hero - Krakow Poland - male ventral.jpg, ''Coenonympha hero'' ♂△

Biology

The butterflies fly in one generation from May to July. The larvae feed on various grasses.

Etymology

Named in the

Classical tradition The Western classical tradition is the reception of classical Greco-Roman antiquity by later cultures, especially the post-classical West, involving texts, imagery, objects, ideas, institutions, monuments, architecture, cultural artifacts, ri ...

Hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or a main fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength. Like other formerly gender-specific terms (like ''actor''), ''hero ...

was a Greek scholar.

References

External links

Vlindernet Butterflies of Europe
Coenonympha Butterflies of Europe Butterflies described in 1761 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Satyrini-stub