♂, Chiang Mai, Thailand.		♀, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
♂, Chiang Mai, Thailand.		♀, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
♂, Chiang Mai, Thailand.		♂ genitalia, Chiang Mai, Thailand.

ON : Rapala rosacea Nicéville, 1889 OD : J. asiat. Soc. Bengal (Part II), 57(4): 285, pl.14, fig.12,♂. TL : Sikkim. Distribution : Nepal, Sikkim, Assam, Myanmar, N.Thailand, Laos, Vietnam.

'Rapala nissa ranta var. bifida Cantlie, 1959 ; J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 56(3): 652–653; Loc: Sadon, N.Burma. (IFS)'
Rapala hinomaru Fujioka, 1970 ; Spec. Bull. Lepid. Soc. Japan (4): 29–30, pl.11, figs.5(HT,♀), 6(HT,♀Un); TL: Darapani (1000m)–The Tombol Bridge, Nepal. (CUBM)

hinomaru ; Holotype ♀, 25.Jun.1963, Darapani (1000m)–The Tombol Bridge, East Nepal, T. Fujioka leg. (CUBM) ; KC et al.,2025 : 45-46, figs.9, ♀,♀(Un).

[ THAILAND ]
Rapala rectivitta : Pinratana,1981 : pl.28, fig.16,♂(Un). (partim)
Rapala rosacea : Ek-Amnuay,[2007] : 716, pl.327, figs.L423,♂,♂(Un). (Chiang Mai: Doi Suthep)
Rapala rosacea : Ek-Amnuay,2012 : 764, pl.351, figs.L444,♂,♂(Un),♀,♀(Un). (Chiang Mai: Doi Suthep)
Rapala rosacea : Kimura et al.,2014 : 142, figs.♂,♂(Un),♂,♂(Un),♀,♀(Un). (Doi Suthep)
Rapala rosacea : Nishimura,2026 : 39, figs.63,♂,63v♂(Un). (Mae Hong Son: Na Pu Pon)

[ LAOS ]
Rapala rosacea : Miyamoto & Nakamura,2016 : 26–27, figs.20A♂,B♂(Un),C♀,D♀(Un). (Xieng Khouang)
Rapala rosacea : Onodera,2022 : 97, pl.231, figs.♂,♂(Un). (Xiengkhouang: Tha)

[ VIETNAM ]
Rapala rosacea : Miyazaki et al.,2006d : 68, fig.L-145,♂. (Lam Dong: Dambri)
Rapala rosacea : Yokochi et al.,2015a : 14. (Khanh Hoa: Hon Ba)
Rapala rosacea : Monastyrskii & Devyatkin,2015 : 69. (C: Gia Lai)

[ THAILAND ]
Mae Hong Son : 2♂ (incl. photo).

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Chiang Mai : 7♂ 2♀ (2♂ genitalia dissected).

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[ VIETNAM ]
Lao Cai : 1♂.

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Vinh Phuc : 1♀.

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Dac Nong : 5♂.

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Lam Dong : 2♂.

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This is a rather localized species, but is not uncommon in its habitats. The butterfly is found in forests at moderate to high elevations (1,300–1,600 m a.s.l.). Males are territorial on shrubs.
KC et al. (2025) synonymised Rapala hinomaru with Rapala nissa. However, based on the following reasons, I consider it more likely that hinomaru is a female of rosacea rather than nissa.
1) The upperside of both wings is mostly lacking in steel blue scales, whereas nissa never lacks steel blue scales. 2) The wing shape is rounded (especially the hindwing), differing entirely from nissa which is elongated longitudinally. 3) The striae in space 1a on the UnH are significantly broad, whereas it does not become markedly broad in nissa.

Rapala rosacea UpH, androconial patch

An additional character of the males of this species is that the androconial scales on the UpH are covered along the veins down to the base of vein 6. This does not occur in the nissa complex.
KC et al. speculate that this species may be univoltine and occur only in the early spring, since individuals with rosy, reddish-vinous-coloured undersides are only observed from February to mid-March. After this period, they change to greyer individuals, suggesting that specimens observed after mid-March belong to the nissa complex. However, this species is known to be multivoltine in Indochina, and KC's description of "notably, the rosy, reddish-vinous-coloured undersides individuals in early spring" should be considered an extreme dry-season form.

The name Rapala nissa ranta var. bifida Cantlie, 1959 is an infrasubspecific name and is unavailable. Huang (2001) considered it to be a subspecies of Rapala subpurpurea Leech, 1890, without correctly conferring availability of the name under the ICZN Code. This is presumably inferred from the original description, which stated that "the cleft between the conjoined clasps of the Sadon specimens extends to half way down the clasps". However, this character alone may also be Rapala rosacea. This makes it impossible to definitively diagnose it as subpurpurea. Since its other characters were considered to be identical to those of Rapala nissa, it is highly probable that the Cantlie did not recognise it as rosacea because the underside ground colour was not "vinous red". Considering the seasonal variation and distribution of rosacea, it is reasonable to treat this population as belonging to rosacea rather than subpurpurea. Further taxonomic and distributional studies are needed.

KC et al. (2026) described Rapala laximae KC, Shirey & Grishin, 2026 (TL: Tawmaw, Kachin State, Myanmar) as a new species. This taxon is highly likely to be conspecific with the population from Thailand that I identify as Rapala rosacea, based on the pattern of markings and the morphology of the male genitalia. Rapala nissa and R. laximae are morphologically distinct species, and R. rosacea is the most relevant taxon for comparison: however, the authors did not compare the taxon in question with R. rosacea. In any case, a judgment on the status of this taxon is deferred until these issues are resolved.

Nicéville, L. de, 1889. On new or little-known Butterflies from the Indian Region.
Journal of the asiatic Society of Bengal (Part II), 57(4): 273–293, pls. 13–14.

Leech, J.H, 1890. New species of Lepidoptera from China.
Entomologist, 23: 26–50, 81–83 ; 109–114 ; 187–192, pl. 1.

Cantlie, K, 1959. A new variety of the butterfly Rapala nissa ranta Swinhoe.
Journal of the Bombay natural History Society, 56(3): 652–653.

Fujioka, T, 1970. Butterflies collected by the Lepidopterological Research Expedition to Nepal Himalaya, 1963. Part 1 Papilionoidea.
Special Bulletin of the Lepidopterological Society of Japan, (4): 1–125, 31 pls.

Huang, H, 2001. Report of H. Huang's 2000 Expedition to SE. Tibet for Rhopalocera.
Neue entomologische Nachrichten, 51: 65–152.

KC, S, Van der Poel, P, Pariyar, S, Sunar, A. & Singhlimbu, M, 2025.
A review of the genus Rapala Moore, 1881 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Theclinae) of Nepal with insights on little-known species.
Zootaxa, 5692(1): 31–56. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5692.1.2

KC, S, Shirey, V.M. & Grishin, N.V, 2026. Phylogenomic analyses of Asian Rapala Moore, 1881 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae: Theclinae) suggest a new species from Myanmar.
Zootaxa, 5881(1): 79–94. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5881.1.4

♂ (territorial behaviour), Mae Hong Son, Thailand.
♂ (territorial behaviour), Mae Hong Son, Thailand.

1999.07.21 - 2026.10.31.