''Lethe callipteris'' is a

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

in the family

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 ha ...

(

Satyrinae The Satyrinae, the satyrines or satyrids, commonly known as the browns, are a subfamily of the Nymphalidae (brush-footed butterflies). They were formerly considered a distinct family, Satyridae. This group contains nearly half of the known divers ...

). It is found in the East

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. Th ...

where it is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, p=səxɐˈlʲin) is an island in Northeast Asia. Its north coast lies off the southeastern coast of Khabarovsk Krai in Russia, while its southern tip lies north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. An islan ...

(''L. c. karafutonis'' Matsumura, 1925) and the

Kuriles The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands are a volcanic archipelago administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the Russian Far East. The islands stretch approximately northeast from Hokkaido in Japan to Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, separating the ...

(''L. c. obscura'' Nakahara, 1926). The larva feeds on '' Sasa'' and '' Pleioblastus'', etc. (Graminae). It has single generation and hibernates as a larva.Taro Iwase, 1954 Synopsis of the known life-histories of Japanese butterflies ''The Lepidopterists' News'' 1954: 95-10
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Subspecies

*''Lethe callipteris callipteris'' (Japan) *''Lethe callipteris karafutonis'' Matsumura, 1925 (Sakhalin) *''Lethe callipteris obscura'' Nakahara, 1926 (Kuriles)

References

callipteris Butterflies described in 1877 Butterflies of Japan Taxa named by Arthur Gardiner Butler {{Elymniini-stub