The white-banded flat is a black with white spots that perches with its wings spread out flat. It is native to East Asia and does not live in the United States.
Appearance
- Appearance
- Blackish wings with scattered white spots on the forewings. Many populations also have a white band across the middle of the hindwings, but in some regions the band is faint or missing. The wingspan is about 1.2–1.6 in (30–40 mm), and females are a little larger than males.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Woodlands
- Woodland edges
- Stream valleys
- Range
- Eastern Asia, including the Amur and southern Ussuri regions of Russia, China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan. It does not occur in North America.
Behavior
- Activity
- When it lands, it holds its wings open and flat instead of folding them.
- Overwintering
- It spends the winter as a caterpillar inside its leaf shelter.
Life cycle
- Larva
- The female lays single eggs on yam leaves and covers them with hairs from her own body. The caterpillar has a large black head and lives inside a shelter it makes by cutting and folding part of a leaf.
- Caterpillar food plants
- Caterpillars feed on yams and their relatives (Dioscorea), such as Japanese yam.
Name and classification
- About the name
- Long known as Daimio tethys; recent classifications place it in the genus Tagiades.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
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