Niphanda fusca (Bremer et Grey, 1852)

The genus Niphanda, with two species, is isolated into a separate tribe Niphandini Eliot, 1973 within Polyommatinae Swainson, 1827. As in some other Lycaenidae, in this genus the larvae do not accept plant food as such. A young larva is carnivorous on the aphids and leaks their secrets, than it hibernates in an ant nest and then is fed by ants.

Range: East Asia west to Lake Baikal.

ssp.: ?

A copulating pair; wings closed.

A rocky cliff of the Onon River left bank grown up with Ulmus macrocarpa Hance, U. pumila L., and Armeniaca sibirica (L.) Lam., 7 km upstream of the village Nizhnii Tsasuchei, Onon District, SE Chita Province (Dahuria), Transbaikalia, Siberia, Russia. 5th July 1995. O. Kosterin.