📸 PhotoPhoto: NOZO · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Silver stripped skipper
Leptalina unicolor (Silver stripped skipper · ギンイチモンジセセリ)
Not Evaluated (NE) on the IUCN Red List yet.
🇰🇷 Class II endangered wildlife (Korea)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A maximum wingspan of 35 mm is about 1.3 times the diameter of a Korean 500-won coin (26.5 mm) (Comparison).
- 💡 It lives in silver grass and foxtail grasslands beside streams and railroad tracks. When river maintenance clears away the riverside grass, this butterfly's home disappears as well.
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The silver stripped skipper is a small butterfly living in grasslands near rivers and valleys, notable for the silvery-white stripe on the underside of its hindwings. It is a Class II endangered wildlife species in Korea.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its wingspan is 31–35 mm; the upper side is blackish brown, while the underside of the hindwing has a long horizontal silvery-white stripe on a yellowish-brown background. This stripe is distinct in spring and fainter in summer.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
It occurs twice a year, with adults most abundant from May to August. Larvae roll the leaves of grasses such as silver grass (Miscanthus sinensis) and foxtail to make shelters, feed on them, and overwinter as larvae.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
It is a Class II endangered wildlife species (Korea). Distributed in parts of Chungcheongnam-do, Gyeongsangnam-do, Gangwon-do, and Jeollabuk-do, its numbers are declining as river maintenance projects damage tall streamside grasslands.
📚 Sources & References
- • 멸종위기 야생생물 Ⅱ급 — 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000034221 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000034221
- • IUCN Red List: not evaluated (NE) — cross-checked with the Wikidata conservation-status entry
- • Korean protection status: Class II endangered wildlife (Korea)
- • catalogueoflife.org — 3THHY
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000034221 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000034221
- • wikidata.org — Q5973691
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Leptalina unicolor1.jpg
- • nie.re.kr — view.do
- • bok.or.kr — contents.do
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — author not recorded · CC0 1.0 (Related taxon silhouette — Polites sabuleti)
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.