Morphological characteristics of the Pieris napi group* from the Himalayas (P. ajaka, P. melaina, P. erutae and P. extensa bhutya) are re-examined, and Pieris erutae wangchucki ssp. nov., a new subspecies of Pieris erutae Poujade, 1888 from eastern Bhutan is described and illustrated.

Sixty-six butterfly species have been recorded from Tatsutayama, Kumamoto City. They consisted of nine papilionid, seven pierid, 17 lycaenid, 23 nymphalid and ten hesperiid species. Six of these appeared in the record from the 1970s, but have not been observed in the 2000s. On the other hand, three Red Data species of Japan and/or Kumamoto Prefecture were observed even in the 2000s. Fifty-four species were recorded in the transect counts over three years. The most abundant species were Zizeeria maha and Eurema mandarina, followed by Ypthima argus, Argyreus hyperbius and Lethe diana. The Shannon-Wiener function (H’) was 4.00-4.34, the Sympson biodiversity index (1－λ) was 0.903-0.927, the Pielou measurement of evenness (J’) was 0.725-0.782, and the density (counts / km / census) was 10.77-15.02.

Besides the red (normal) and white color forms of the hind wing anal angle spots in Sasakia charonda, there exists the pink color form. Through test crosses by the hand pairing method, this study demonstrates that the red and pink forms occur from different alleles of an autosomal gene, the former being dominant and the latter recessive. White and pink color forms are in incomplete dominance and the color of the hind wing anal spots in the F1 generation shows a color cline between white and pink.

Male germ-line chromosomes were examined in the five species of Euthalia. Chromosome numbers were observed 2 n= 32 in E. malaccana, E. lubentina and E. djata, 2n=42, n=21 in E. adonia, and 2n=52, n=26 in E. whiteheadi. Chromosome complement consists of a dot shaped element in spermatogonium and spermatocyte

We observed flower visitors of the woody climber Anodendron affine (Apocynaceae) in early March 2016 on the subtropical island Iriomotejima, southwestern Japan. Three butterfly, one moth, one bee, one wasp, one blowfly, and one hoverfly species were diurnal visitors, and four moth species were nocturnal visitors. All lepidopterans sipped nectar from the flowers. Flower visitation frequency was higher at night than in the daytime, although the observed daytime visitor diversity was higher. A. affine flowers attracted nocturnal moths more than other groups of insects.

　Papilio machaon is distributed in the subarctic and temperate zones of the northern hemisphere, including the Eurasian and North American Continents. It is also distributed in the Japanese Islands and Sakhalin, and is classified as the subspecies hippocrates. In order to elucidate the phylogenetic relationship between the Japanese P. machaon population and Continental populations, a molecular phylogenetic analysis was performed with mitochondrial ND5 DNA sequences using P. machaon specimens collected from various areas in the Japanese Islands and foreign countries and other species included in the subgenus Papilio. We found that the Japanese P. machaon population (the subgenus hippocrates) was genetically distinct from the Eurasian and North American populations. The Japanese population diverged earlier than other Continental P. machaon populations in the subgenus Papilio, which indicates that the Japanese population would be isolated in the Islands since their geographical establishment. These results imply that the Japanese population of other butterfly species may also be distinct from the Continental populations at the molecular level even though morphological similarities exist between the populations.