(Linnaeus, 1758)
Purple Emperor
Description:
The Purple Emperor inhabits damp, mature, deciduous woods with clearings in them. These woods often have different sorts of trees, stream valleys, and woodland rides. Male butterflies are often seen near puddles on the road and on the dung of other animals. They are also attracted to strongly smelling cheese. The males and females meet each other at the top of master oaks, or other old trees that are taller than the rest, situated at the margin of the woods.
Various willows (Salix spp.) are used as food plants, the female depositing her eggs preferably at the top of the tree, on the upperside of leaves that do not get the sun.
The caterpillars often lie along the main nerve of the leaves, nibbling off the rest of the leaf more or less symmetrically. The half-grown caterpillar spins itself a small cushion in the fork of a twig on which it hibernates. In the spring, it resumes feeding on the buds and fresh young leaves. It pupates, suspended from the underside of a leaf, and has one generation a year.
Habitat:
Mixed woodland
Alluvial and very wet forest
Deciduous forests
Similar species:
Apatura metis
Apatura ilia