Niphanda fusca (Bremer et Grey, 1852)

The genus Niphanda, with two species, is isolated into a separate tribe Niphandini Eliot, 1973 within Polyommatinae Swainson, 1827. As in some other Lycaenidae, in this genus the larvae do not accept plant food as such. A young larva is carnivorous on the aphids and leaks their secrets, than it hibernates in an ant nest and then is fed by ants.

Range: East Asia west to Lake Baikal.

ssp.: ?

A female; wings closed.

A female feeding on Spiraea salicifolia L., wings closed.

The Onon River left bank floodland 7 km upstream of the village Nizhnii Tsasuchei, Onon District, SE Chita Province (Dahuria), Transbaikalia, Siberia, Russia. 1st July 1996. O. Kosterin.