Rapala is a genus of butterfly in the tribe

Tribe

A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...

 Deudorigini

Deudorigini

The Deudorigini are a tribe of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae. As not all Theclinae have been assigned to tribes, the genus list is preliminary.-Genera:* Araotes* Artipe* Bindahara* Capys...

 of the subfamily Theclinae

Theclinae

Subfamily Theclinae is a group of butterflies, including the hairstreaks, elfins and allies, in the family Lycaenidae. There are many tropical species as well as a number found in the Americas. Tropical hairstreaks often have iridescent blue coloration above, caused by reflected light from the...

 of the family Lycaenidae

Lycaenidae

The Lycaenidae are the second-largest family of butterflies, with about 6000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies...

. They are found throughout the Oriental Region, with a few species extending to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and into the Eastern Palaearctic Region.

Males of Rapala are differentiated from other genera

Genera

Genera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...

 in the Deudorigini by the genitalia, with the conjoined valvae tapering evenly to rounded apices. The male secondary sexual characters also differ. In every species there is a brand above the origin of vein 7 and lying wholly within space 7, clothed with very small scent scales, and nearly always there is an associated erectile hair tuft on the forewing dorsum beneath.

Almost all species exhibit sexual dimorphism

Sexual dimorphism

Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...

 in the colour of the upperside; normally the male is red, reddish brown or deep blue, while the female is dark brown or pale purple blue.

Selected species

• Rapala arata
  Rapala arata
  The Japanese Flash is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found from in Russia , north-eastern. China, Korea and Japan. The habitat consists of brook banks, meadows and the edges of montane mixed forests.The length of the forewings is 14-17 mm. The upperside of the wings is dark-violet...
  
  (Bremer, 1861)
• Rapala cassidyi
  Rapala cassidyi
  Cassidy's Flash Rapala cassidyiis a Lycaenid butterfly found in Sulawesi. It was discovered in 1985 during the Project Wallace expedition of the Royal Entomological Society...
  
  
• Rapala iarbus
  Rapala iarbus
  The Common Red Flash, Rapala iarbus is a species of lycaenid or blue butterfly found in Asia....
  
  
• Rapala lankana
• Rapala melampus
• Rapala manea
  Rapala manea
  Rapala manea is a butterfly of the Lycaenidae family. It is found in most of the Oriental ecozone .The wingspan is 24-26 mm. Adult males have dark brown wings with a hint of purple on the cell area of the wings. The underside is greyish brown with two irregular bands...
  
  (Hewitson, [1863])
• Rapala schistacea
  Rapala schistacea
  The Slate Flash, Rapala schistacea is a species of lycaenid or blue butterfly found in Asia. It is mostly considered to be a subspecies of Rapala maneathumb|left|Female Upperside photo taken in [[Bangalore]]...
  
  
• Rapala scintilla
  Rapala scintilla
  The Scarce Slate Flash, Rapala scintilla is a species of lycaenid or blue butterfly found in Asia....
  
  
• Rapala selira
• Rapala sphinx
  Rapala sphinx
  The Brilliant Flash, Rapala sphinx is a species of lycaenid or blue butterfly found in Asia....