Chocolate Pansy Butterfly
Friday, 30 August 2013
Thursday, 27 June 2013
Jamides celeno
The Common Cerulean (Jamides celeno) is a small butterfly found in India belonging to the Lycaenids or Blues family.
LOCATION:CHAMPAKKARA(27-6-2013)
Like many tropical butterflies, this species shows seasonal polyphenism, with the appearance differing between adults according to the season.Male upperside has the ground colour pale bluish white. The forewing has the terminal margin narrowly edged with black that broadens very slightly towards the apex of the wing; the cilia are brownish black.
The hindwing is uniformly coloured, except for an anticiliary black line faintly edged on the inner side by a white line within which and touching it is a row of black spots, the anterior spots very faint, the spot in interspace 2 large and well-defined, two geminate spots in interspace 1 and a very small black lunular dot in interspace 1a; cilia brown, white at the base in the interspaces. In specimens obtained in the height of the dry season the black edging to the termen of the fore wing is much reduced and the subterminal series of black spots in the hind wing is altogether missing.
The underside is greyish brown. The forewing has seven transverse white bands as follows:—two short bands one each side of the discocellulars, the inner one continued downwards to vein 1 and both represented at the costa by two detached spots; two parallel discal bands, the inner one broken at and the outer one terminating on vein 3; two parallel subterminal bands, the outer one slightly lunular; lastly, a more slender terminal band followed by an anticiliary slender black line; the dorsal margin narrowly white; cilia brownish black, their bases white in the interspaces. Hind wing: crossed by nine white bands or lines as follows :—three between base of wing and apex of cell, those posteriorly in interspace 1 or on vein 1 abruptly turn upwards and terminate on the dorsum ; the first band beyond the cell extends from vein 6 to vein 2, then curves upwards in interspace 1; the next extends straight from just below the costa to vein 4, thus overlapping the previous band for a short distance ; the next or postdiscal band runs between the costa and vein 3, the subterminal two also between the costa and vein 3 but the inner one of the two bands is extended down to interspace 1 and there curves upwards towards the dorsum ; both the subterminal bands are more or less lunular; in the interspace below vein 2 is a large subterminal black spot speckled with metallic blue scales and bordered inwardly by ochraceous orange; there are also in interspaces la and 1 two black dots inwardly edged by a short white streak set in an ochraceous background ; lastly, there is a complete terminal white line followed by a black anticiliary line and a filamentous short black white-tipped tail at apex of vein 2 ; cilia as on the upperside. Antennae brownish black, the shafts as usual tinged with white; head, thorax and abdomen pale brown, bluish on thorax and base of abdomen; beneath : the palpi, thorax and abdomen white, the third joint of the palpi and the second joint anteriorly black.The female has the upperside ground-colour paler than in the male, often quite white; terminal black edging to fore wing very much broader, broadest at apex, its margin there diffuse. Hind wing: differs from that of the male as follows:—costal margin broadly dusky black; a postdiscal transverse series of dusky-black connected lunules often more or less obsolescent; this is followed by a series of black spots each set in a background of the white ground-colour; an anticiliary slender black line as in the male. The underside ground-colour is paler than in the male, the markings however are identical. Antenna, head, thorax and abdomen as in the male.
Elymnias hypermnestra
The Common Palmfly, Elymnias hypermnestra, is a species of satyrid butterfly found in south Asia.As some other species in the genus Elymnias, the Common Palmfly presents a precostal cell on the hindwings and a hair tuft of androconial scales on dorsal discal cell of hindwings. This butterfly species is dimorphic, males and females do not look alike. Males exhibit black colored upperside forewings with small blue patches and reddish brown color on upperside hindwings, while the females mimic butterfly species of the genus Danaus.
Race caudata (Western Ghats) Males and female resembles E. undularis, Drury, but both sexes have the wings longer, proportionately to their breadth, and the tail at apex of vein 4 on the hind wing longer. Upperside: male differs from E. undularis as follows :— the subterminal and preapical spots on the fore wing white suffused slightly with dark scales; the terminal half of the hind wing tawny, more or less suffused with dusky black, which in some specimens forms a distinct border along the termen. Female similar to the female of E. undularis, but the black more extended ; veins 2, 3, and 4 on the hind wing broadly bordered with black. Underside: Female differs from E. undularis in the more conspicuous broadly triangular white pre-apical patch on the fore wing, and in the prominence of the broad tawny terminal half of the upperside of the hind wing, which shows through a pale, sometimes pinkish-brown on the underside. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen brown, paler beneath and much paler in the female than in the male.
LOCATION:CHAMPAKARA(27-6-2013)
Race undularis (Subhimalayas and Southeast Asia) Male upperside blackish brown. fore wing with a subterminal series of blue or sometimes slightly green elongate spots, curving strongly inwards and getting more elongate opposite apex, forming almost an oblique bar up to the costa. Hind wing: the terminal margin broadly bright chestnut, sometimes with a subterminal paler spot in two or more of the interspaces. Underside pale brown, the basal two-thirds of both fore and hind wing densely, the outer third more sparsely covered with dark ferruginous, somewhat broad, transverse striae. Fore wing with a broadly triangular pale purplish-white preapical mark; both fore and hind wings with a broad subterminal area purplish white. Hind wing with a small white spot opposite middle of the costa and a more or less complete series of more obscure whitish subterminal spots. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen brown; abdomen beneath paler.
Female Upperside tawny, veins black. Fore wing : the dorsal margin broadly black; the apical area beyond a line curving from the tornus, round apex of the cell and a little beyond it, to the base of the costa also black, the wing crossed preapically by a conspicuous, broad, oblique white bar, and three subterminal white spots. Hind wing: dorsal margin dusky; terminal broadly, costal margin more narrowly black ; a subterminal series of four white spots. Underside tawny, with markings similar to those in the male; the pale whitish markings more extensive ; the dorsal margin broadly without striae.[1]
Race fraterna, Butler (Sri Lanka) is an insular representative of E. undularis. The male differs on the upperside in the more or less complete absence of the subterminal and preapical blue markings on the fore wing; and in the broad terminal border of the hind wing being of a much brighter, almost ochraceous chestnut. On the underside the pale markings are somewhat restricted. The male very closely resembles, both on the upper and under side, the male of E. undularis.[1]
Friday, 21 June 2013
Tagiades litigiosa
LOCATION:CHAMPAKARA
Tagiades litigiosa, commonly known as the Water Snow Flat, is a butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae which is found in India.
Chilades trochylus
The Grass Jewel (Chilades trochylus) is a small butterfly found in Africa, southern Europe, India and southern Asia that belongs to the Lycaenids or Blues family.
LOCATION:CHAMPAKARA
Male upperside: brown, somewhat variable in tint. Specimens from dry localities are much, paler than those taken in areas with a comparatively heavy rainfall.
Forewing : uniform, with a very ill-defined anticiliary dark line in some specimens. Hind wing: a subterminal series of round black spots crowned with pale ochraceous, the posterior four spots generally well defined and outwardly edged with white, the anterior spots obsolescent and without the interior edging of yellow or the outer edging of white; a well-marked, slender anticiliary black line. Cilia white, basal halves brown.
Underside: pale silky brown. Forewing: with the following white markings:—a short line on the inner and outer sides of the discocellulars ; a transverse, slightly curved, discal series of small, more or less incomplete rings; a transverse postdiscal series of disconnected slender lunules; a subterminal series of similar but more regular lunules and a terminal broken line, followed by a dark unbroken anticiliary line; the groundcolour between the two short discocellar lines, that enclosed within each ring of the discal markings, and between the sub-terminal lunules and the terminal line slightly darker than on the rest of the wing. Hind m ing: two short white lines on the discocellulars ; the discal, poatdiscal and terminal markings as on the fore wing, except that enclosed between the subterminal series of white lunules and the terminal white line is a complete series of dark spots, the posterior three or four jet-black sprinkled outwardly with metallic-green scales and encircled with pale ochraceous. In addition there are a transverse subbasal series of four white-encircled black spots and a similar subcostal spot in middle of interspace 7. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen brown, the shaft of the antennce speckled with white; beneath: palpi, thorax and abdomen white.
Female upperside and undersides : ground-colour and markings as in the male, but the latter larger and more clearly defined; on the hind wing the yellow crowning the black spots on the tornal area on the upperside and surrounding the same on the underside, wider and more prominent. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen as in the male.
Papilio polytes
The Common Mormon (Papilio polytes) is a common species of swallowtail butterfly widely distributed across Asia. This butterfly is known for themimicry displayed by the numerous forms of its females which mimic inedible Red-bodied Swallowtails, such as the Common Rose and the Crimson Rose.
LOCATION:CHAMPAKARA
LOCATION:CHAMPAKARA
The Common Mormon is fond of visiting flowers and its long proboscis permits it to feed from flowers having long corollar tubes. It is particularly fond ofLantana, Jatropha, Ixora, and Mussaenda in city gardens. In the forests, the Common Mormon remains low keeping within ten feet off the floor and its prefer to visit Asystasia, Peristrophe, and Jasminum for nectar.
The male Common Mormon is a very common visitor to gardens where he will be seen hovering over flowers when the sun is shining. It is a restless insect, zig-zagging fast and straight close to the ground, settling down only when it halts to feed.
The mimic female Mormons, stichius and romulus are very convincing mimics due to their habits, especially the flight patterns, being very similar to those of the Rose models. However, lacking the protection of inedibility, they tend to be more easily disturbed than the Roses and fly off erratically .
Only the males take part in mud puddling, usually in cool shaded spots rather than in open areas. They have been known to collect on saline soils to extract minerals.[5]
Both sexes bask in the sun on shrubs close to the ground. They hold their wings flat against the substratum. The forewing is lowered to cover part of thehindwing and is a typical stance of the Common Mormon.
The Common Mormons spend the night settled on vegetation with their wings held open, usually quite close to the ground.
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