2025 Volume 76 Issue 4 Pages 169-172
A butterfly species, Purple Emperor, Apatura iris (Linnaeus, 1758), is recorded in Mongolia for the first time. The specimens of two males and three females of this species were collected from the forest steppe in the mountainous area of Sharyngol, Darkhan-Uul Province, Mongolia. On both sides of the dirt road through this forest steppe, there was an abundance of willow trees (Salix spp.), which provided a suitable habitat for this species. The specimens we collected are believed to be A. iris amurensis Stichel, 1908. Sharyngol is located about 300 km south of Lake Baikal, and the forest steppes extend from the southern tip of the Republic of Buryatia and the southern tip of the Zabaikalsky Krai eastward across the border into Mongolia. It is possible that the distribution of this species has extended through these regions to Sharyngol.
