Aldania themis

Aldania themis
	Aldania themis in Seitz (54f)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Aldania
Species:	A. themis
Binomial name
	Aldania themis; (Leech, 1890) [1]

Aldania themis is a butterfly found in the East Palearctic (Ussuri, China, Korea) that belongs to the browns family.

Subspecies

A. t. themis Hubei, Sichuan, Gansu, Shaanxi
A. t. muri (Eliot, 1969) North China
A. t. neotibetana (Huang, 1998) Yigong

Description from Seitz

N. themis Leech (54f) differs from the preceding species in the median band on the hindwing beneath being anteriorly abbreviated and in the 2—3 violet spots standing in the prolongation of the band being absent; on the other hand, there is on the forewing below a large light spot near the distal margin between the radials.*) The distribution-area of this form according to Oberthur extends from West China (Siaolou) to Sikkim, where it is replaced by the nomenclatorially typical form, N. nycteus Nicev., which has white instead of yellow spots. *Contrary to customary treatment N. themis and thisbe are here dealt with as different species. In this I follow Ch. Oberthur's opinion (Etudes de Lepidopterol. Comparee II), although the differences do not appear to be quite sufficient for specific separation. There can hardly be any doubt that the classification of the species of Neptis, especially of the thetis group, will be modified in many respects as our knowledge of the geographical distribution and seasonal variation increases. At present one has to be content with a grouping which is the more probably correct classification according to one's personal opinion. As not weighty enough I must regard the characters of a number of species described by Oberthur in the place cited ; particularly the separation of thisbe from themis and the specific value attributed to some forms of the thestias series does not seem to be tenable. — Stichel. [2]

gollark: Did you just randomly decide to calculate that?

gollark: Well, you can, or also "it would have about the same mass as the atmosphere".

gollark: Wikipedia says that spider silk has a diameter of "2.5–4 μm", which I approximated to 3μm for convenience, so a strand has a 1.5μm radius. That means that its cross-sectional area (if we assume this long thing of spider silk is a cylinder) is (1.5e-6)², or ~7e-12. Wikipedia also says its density is about 1.3g/cm³, which is 1300kg/m³, and that the observable universe has a diameter of 93 billion light-years (8.8e26 meters). So multiply the length of the strand (the observable universe's diameter) by the density of spider silk by the cross-sectional area of the strand and you get 8e18 kg, while the atmosphere's mass is about 5e18 kg, so close enough really.

gollark: Okay, so by mass it actually seems roughly correct.

gollark: So, spider silk comes in *very* thin strands and is somewhat denser than water, interesting.

References

Leech, 1890 New species of Lepidoptera from China Entomologist 23 : 26-50, 81-83, : 109-114, : 187-192, pl. 1
Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter, 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren) This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

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[1] Leech, 1890 New species of Lepidoptera from China Entomologist 23 : 26-50, 81-83, : 109-114, : 187-192, pl. 1

[2] Seitz, A. ed. Band 1: Abt. 1, Die Großschmetterlinge des palaearktischen Faunengebietes, Die palaearktischen Tagfalter, 1909, 379 Seiten, mit 89 kolorierten Tafeln (3470 Figuren) This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.