Third report on the Sino-Japanese joint survey on the ecology of Sasakia funebris and observations on other butterflies

The third round of the Sino-Japanese joint survey was conducted between April 27th and May 1st, 1992, at the Wuyanling and the Fengyangshan Nature Reserves, Zhejiang Province, China. We chose the season to concentrate on observation of early stages of butterflies rather than adults on the wing. Unfortunately we were again unable to find any larva of Sasakia funebris. To begin with, we looked for larvae on Celtis trees of medium to small size and successfully found larvae of Helcyra superba, H. subalba, Hestina assimilis and Sasakia charonda. The larvae of H. superba we collected had two colour forms: one was a green form as illustrated elsewhere (Koiwaya: Studies of Chinese Butterflies Vol. 1, 1989) but the other was brown, that is, the same as the colouring of the hibernating larva. Larvae of several Neptis species were collected from different trees. Two kinds of larvae were obtained from Carpinus sp.. Of these, green larvae later produced N. beroe but the others which were brownish remained unidentified as they failed to survive. Mature larvae of N. alwina were spotted on a peach tree (Prunus persica), and a larva of N. pryeri on Spiraea sp.. Also, a pupa of N. philyra was found on Acer sp.. Those were familiar to us as they occur in Japan. A larva we found on Weigela sp. later produced a male of Athyma fortuna. Hesperiid larvae were seen on Evodia sp.. They seemed to belong to the genus Satarupa but unfortunately no collected larvae survived. Spring ephemerals such as Orthomiella, Callophrys and Amblopala spp. were recorded for the first time from the area. The Fengyangshan area, especially around Guanpuyang, seemed to us to be a possible habitat of Sasakia funebris, even though no larva thereof could be found there. It would be worthwhile to work the area at a later date. The list of species gives those confirmed this time as well as additions by the Chinese members after the last report.