Aptura metis is the most limited of the European Purple Emperors.
   They inhabit conifer trees at riversides, lakes and other wetlands below approximately 700 m.
   Females spend the majority of their lives in the foliage.
   They are typically seen on wing in May, June, July, August, September. 
   They occur locally from Southeastern Europe (from S. Hungary and Croatia to Albania, FYROM, Northern Greece, Bulgaria and Romania), to Eastern Asia (Japan).
   Apatura metis is missing in many areas of this vast range.
   Between Southeast Europe and Eastern Asia (where Apatura metis is a bit more common, from the Amur region to Korea and Japan) only a few distribution areas are known, (in the lower Wolga region, Northern Kaukasus, Kazakhstan or Transbaikalia.)
    In Europe, Apatura metis typically occurs in two generations between late May and late June and again from late July to early September.
   In Southern Russia only a single generation flies, in June through July.
   Likely the second generation is not always complete in Southeast Europe also.
   They have dark wings with reddish and yellow bands.
   The wings of the male are bluish purple if seen from the right angle. (In appearance, they resembles Apatura ilia.)
   However, they differ significantly from Aptura ilia by a stepped protrusion in the middle of the outer edge of the postdiscal band of the hindwings.
   The ground color of the ventral wings is usually dark brown, with a light orange postdiscal band, an orange marginal band, and a field of the same color in the median cell of the forewings.
   A blind ocellus is located in the anal corner of the fore and hind wings.
   There are four dark spots within the light field of the median cell of the forewings.
   The ventral wings are light, orange brown, with a greenish coating.
   The body is large and dark and covered with reddish hairs above and white hairs below.
    The femora are white, the tibia and feet are reddish.
   The palps are pointed to the apex.
   Antennae are long and dark, with reddish margins below, at the base and at the ends of the clubs.
   The wings of males have a purple tint of their main background.
    In some areas, Apatura metis is endangered by the destruction of floodplain woodland, but at the moment it still occurs in many not severely threatened areas.
   This species is very strictly protected in Europe.       The nominal worth of a single specimen is HUF 50,000, which equals about US $238.