NOTE: The text corresponds to the book Kosrhunov & Gorbunov, 1995 only.

                   SUBORDO DIURNA LINNAEUS, 1758                  
                  (=Aparasterma Niculescu, 1970)                  
                          THE BUTTERFLIES                         

     This group embraces several families of Lepidoptera, the 
imagines of which are active at the daytime. They differ from 
other Lepidoptera (traditionally called moths) first of all by the 
shape of the antennae which are club- or spindle-like swollen at 
the apices. Other characteristic features are the pattern of wing 
venation, the lack of structures fastening the fore and hind 
wings.
     The butterflies inhabit all the continents except for 
Antarctic, the total number of their species being estimated as 
more than seventeen thousand. About a thousand of  them inhabit 
the temperate zone of the Northern Hemisphere, while the others 
are confined to the tropic and subtropic zones.
     So far about 430 butterfly species have been found on the 
territory considered. These are mostly butterflies of a small or 
intermediate size (with the fore wing length of 10-50 mm). Only 
some swallowtails from the Far East are comparable with their 
tropical counterparts as having the wing expanse of more than 10 
cm. The majority of species are trophically connected with herbs 
or grasses, a smaller number of species - with bushes and 
deciduous trees. The caterpillars of the only species - Seokia 
eximia - feed on the coniferous Korean stone pine (Pinus 
koraiensis). The majority of species develop in a single brood a 
year, although in the southern parts of the territory many of the 
same species are capable of producing two or even three broods. 
Some representatives of the genera Driopa, Euphydryas, Erebia, and 
Oeneis are biennial. Besides, the larvae of many tundral 
butterflies can hibernate twice on unfavourable climatic 
conditions of the season and so prolong the life cycle to two or 
more years. The flight period of imagines of a species usually 
lasts for 2-4 weeks while the life span of an individual imago is 
about twice as short. The average longevities of preimaginal 
stages are as follows: 7-20 days of the egg, 1-2 months of the 
larva, 8-16 days of the pupa. Hibernation, occurring at any stage 
of the life cycle, prolongs it for a few months.
     Almost all of our butterflies are confined to Palearctic, 
about 30 species are known also from N. America, and about twice 
as small number of species - from the tropics of SE. Asia. As to 
their geographical distribution, the butterflies of the Asian 
Russia can be attributed to five basic groups:
     The Arcto-Alpine fauna, connected with lowland tundras and 
highlands, is formed mostly by young species of the genera Erebia, 
Oeneis, Clossiana, Boloria, Colias. In the Polar lowlands one 
founds usually no more than ten species: Pieris napi, Colias 
hecla, C. palaeno, C. tyche, Clossiana frigga, C. improba, C. 
hariclea, Boloria alaskensis, Erebia fasciata, Vacciniina 
optilete. Synchloe callidice, Clossiana polaris, Agriades glandon 
are added in Polar mountain regions, and many more other species - 
in more southern mountains. Among highlands of the Polar and 
Subpolar zones the reachest is the fauna of NE. Asia where an 
ancient centre of formation of tundral forms is reconstructed. The 
faunas of the northern Srednesibirskoe [Middle Siberian] Plateau 
and the northern Ural are also derivatives of this centre, but 
they are deprived of a number of species of the tundra-steppe, 
such as Sachaja ammosovi, Colias nastes, Clossiana alberta, Oeneis 
alpina, Erebia callias, E. pawlowskyi, and others. The species 
complexes of the highlands of South Siberia are very peculiar, 
where many of the characteristic Subarctic species are replaced by 
authentic young endemics: Pyrgus sibirica, Clossiana matveevi, 
Boloria frigidalis, Oeneis ammon, O. tunga, O. altaica, Erebia 
theano, E. brimo, E. elwesi, E. kefersteini, E. kindermani. The 
life history of the representatives of the Arcto-Alpine fauna is 
still poorly studied, but it is already known that the majority of 
species are biennial, hibernating twice at the larval stage, and 
are trophically connected with Ericaceae, Vacciniaceae,and 
Empetraceae fruticles, willows (Salix), sedges (Carex), rarely 
other grasses.
     The Boreal fauna is connected with the forest zone in 
lowlands and the forest belts in the mountains of temperate 
latitudes, that is to the largest part of the Asian Russia, the 
species diversity being about twice as large in the southern 
forest zone than in the northern. Although the majority of the 
constituent species range widely within the temperate Eurasia, 
the species content changes substantially as we proceed to the 
East of Ural. More than 20 West-Palearctic species disappear one 
by one, such as Thymelicus flavus, Iphiclides podalirius, Driopa 
mnemosyne, Leptidea sinapis, Colias myrmidne, Vanessa atalanta, 
Nymphalis polychloros, Melitaea aurelia, Pararge aegeria, 
Lasiommata maera, Coenonympha arcania, Maniolia jurtina, Erebia 
euryale, Hipparchia semele, Melanargia galathea, Zeozephyrus 
quercus, Fixenia acaceae, F. ilicis, Glaucopsyche alexis, 
Maculinea nausitous, Polyommatus coridon. On the other hand, about 
the same number of eastern species are added in the upper Ob' 
basin and eastwards, namely, Driopa stubbendorffi, Leptidea 
amurensis, Colias aurora, Limenitis helmanni, S. sydyi, Argynnis 
sagana, Clossiana oscarus, C. anfarensis, Melitaea menetriesi, M. 
plotina, Lopinga deidamia, Erebia neiene, Fixenia prunoides, 
Ahlbergia frivaldskyi, Glaucopsyche lycormas. Almost all the 
species are represented by different subspecies in western and 
eastern parts of their ranges, peculiar subspecies being described 
from Kamchatka, the Sakhalin, the Kurile islands. 
    The East-Asiatic Nemoral fauna, pertained to Priamurye [the 
Amur basin], Primorye, East China, Japan, the southern Sakhalin, 
and the south Kuriles, is the most ancient and peculiar one in 
Palearctic. As many as 36 genera found in the Asian Russia are 
restricted to this fauna, they mostly belong to such archaic 
subfamilies as Zerynthiinae, Apaturinae, Limenitinae, Elymniinae, 
Theclinae. It is this area where occur our largest representatives 
of six butterfly families. The larvae of many species of this 
group are connected with arboreal plants.
     The Central Asiatic fauna is found in intermontane hollows 
and uplands of the south-east of Russian Altai, Tuva, south 
Zabaikalye, and also Mongolia and western and northern China. 
These are montane-steppen species, mostly from the family 
Satyridae, such as Boeberia parmenio, Triphysa albovenosa, and 
any representatives of the genus Oeneis.
    The species of the Mediterranian fauna inhabit S. Europe, N. 
Africa, Anterior Asia, and the steppes of Kazakhstan and 
penetrates to the southern piedmonts of Ural, the steppen regions 
of the West Siberian Lowland eastwards to Altai. It includes both 
steppen and meadow-forest species. Its taxonomic content is quite 
diverse, with the following specific genera: Carcharodus, 
Zerinthia, Zegris, Microzegris, Arethusana, Proterebia, 
Thersamonia, and many others which do not reach the Asian Russia.