Leptotes plinius

The Zebra Blue or Plumbago Blue (Leptotes plinius) is a species of blue butterfly found in India.

Description

This form closely resembles in both sexes on the upperside Tarucus theophrastus, but the character and disposition of the markings on the underside are completely different. Male Upperside: dark violet with, in certain lights, a rich blue suffusion. Fore wing: no discocellular black spot so conspicuous in T. theophrastus; terminal margin with a narrow edging of fuscous black, widest at the apex, gradually decreasing to the tornus, followed by an inconspicuous anticiliary jet-black line. Hind wing : costal margin slightly but broadly shaded with fuscous, which is continued as a slender anticiliary black line to the tornus. Underside: white

Foodplants

Plants of the Legume family, Plumbaginaceae and some of the citrus family Rutaceae. Species include Glycine tomentella, Dyerophytum indicum, Indigofera suffruticosa, Lablab purpureus, Plumbago zeylanica, Rhynchosia tomentosa, Sesbania bispinosa, Tephrosia obovata, Ziziphus mauritiana, Indigofera argentea, Indigofera erecta, Medicago sativa and Toddalia asiatica

Larva

“Pale greenish yellow above, sides lilacine, a narrow brownish median line, followed by eight diagonal short streaks and six brownish-red spots. Before pupating the colouring gets much more diffused. Feeds among the flower-buds of Plumbago.

Pupa

“Dull yellowish profusely mottled with brown spots.”

Moduza procris

The Commander (Moduza procris), sometimes included in the genus Limenitis), is a medium-sized, strikingly coloured brush-footed butterfly found in Asia. It is notable for the mode of concealment employed by its caterpillar and the cryptic camouflage of its pupa.

Description

The Commander has a wingspan of about 6 to 7.5 cm. The upperside of its wings are a bright reddish brown. Towards the centre of the wing are broad white spots. In flight, one can see a bright red brown butterfly with a white band forming a ‘V shape’. There are also a few white spots scattered on the wings. Its hindwings have crenulated margins. The undersides of the wings are a whitish gray toward the base and have a row of dull reddish brown and a row of black spots along the margins.

The male and female are similar in appearance.

Range

Sri Lanka, Peninsular India, the Himalayas east of the Dun valley, through Kumaon, Nepal, Sikkim to Assam, Arunachal and onto Myanmar. Locally abundant, it is common from Sri Lanka to Maharashtra. It is rare in Gujarat and far more common in the Himalayas.

Ecology

The Commander is generally found in forested regions having moderate to heavy rainfall. It usually keeps to low elevations, that is, up to 3000 feet into the hills.

It is fond of open glades, roadsides and clearings in forests. It is abundant along water courses in dry and moist deciduous forests. It is also found close to villages or wherever it’s larval host-plant Mussaenda frondosa is to be found. It is most common in the post-monsoon months and winter.

The Commander can often be spotted basking with its wings pressed flat on exposed stones in streambeds. Individuals settle down on an exposed perch high up in the trees during the heat of the day. At this time it can be seen defending its territory and driving intruding butterflies away.

This butterfly has a swift flight with rapid wingbeats and alternate spurts of smooth gliding. A powerful flier, it nevertheless flies for short distances at a time. Being wary, it maintains its distance and is best caught when engrossed in mud-puddling or feeding from flowers. It regularly visits flowers from low-lying herbs to high up in the trees. Though this is a mud-puddling species, in Borneo and probably elsewhere, adults do not visit carrion or old fruit to drink liquids

Host plants

• Neolamarckia cadamba (Kadam)
• Mussaenda frondosa
• Wendlandia thyrsoidea
• Wendlandia exserta
• Cinchona spp. (Quinine trees)
• Cadaba fruitcosa
• Mitragyna parviflora
• Hedyotis orixense
• Ochreinauclea missionis

Egg

The female Commander lays a single egg on the underside of the tip of a leaf of the food plant. The egg is hairy and greenish and looks like a green strawberry. The egg hatches in 3 to 4 days.

Caterpillar

The caterpillar is dirty brown with a chestnut tinge and dark brown splotches all over. The body also bears numerous processes which help to break up its outline. The behaviour of this caterpillar is very interesting in that it is one of the species of butterfly that makes long chains of frass. It eats up part of the leaf it is on and uses bits of leaves which are strung up with silk along with droppings. The caterpillar rests on the exposed mid rib of a leaf after removing the leafy portions on the sides. This behaviour may be to dissuade ants from crossing over the chain of frass behind which the caterpillar rests.

Pupa

Before pupating, the caterpillar wanders around, often far away from the plant it fed on. It pupates among dried leaves and twigs. The pupa is brownish in color and rough in texture. It is angular with prominent wing expansions and bears flat processes on the head which curl together lmaking a hole between them. It also has numerous lines and markings that make it look like a rolled up dried leaf.

Spotted From

Bannerughatta , Bangalore

Jamides celeno

The Common Cerulean (Jamides celeno) is a small butterfly found in India belonging to the Lycaenids or Blues family

Description

Like many tropical butterflies, this species shows seasonal polyphenism, with the appearance differing between adults according to the season.

Dry-season brood

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

Wet-season brood

Closely resembles the males and females of the dry-season brood; the markings are similar but the ground-colour is generally darker both on the upper and undersides, while the black edging to the fore wing and the black postdiscal and terminal markings to the hind wing on the upperside are broader and more clearly defined. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen as in the dry-season brood

Larva

“When full-fed just half an inch in length, of a dull reddish-green colour, thickly shagreened with minute white tubercles, scarcely, if at all, hairy; the head pale ochraceous, entirely hidden beneath the second segment; the segments increasing in width to about the fifth, the two anal segments slightly decreasing and above flattened, especially the thirteenth; the erectile organs very small; a dorsal pulsating line, somewhat darker than the rest of the body; a subdorsal series of pale green oblique streaks, one on each segment on each side from the third to the eleventh segment inclusive; no other conspicuous markings. Dr. Forel has identified the ant that attends the larva in Calcutta, as Camponotus mitis, Smith. Dr. G. King identifies the plant on which the larva feeds in Calcutta as Heynea trijuga, Roxburgh.”

Pupa

Of the usual Lycaenid shape, quite smooth, neither hairy nor pitted, pale ochreous greenish, the upper portions of the abdominal segments darker, covered throughout with coarse, rounded, blackish spots placed irregularly; a dorsal and a subdorsal series of similar but larger spots or blotches placed regularly. Head bluntly rounded, thorax slightly humped and constricted posteriorly, end of the abdomen rounded

Source : Wikipedia.

Recorded From

Bannerughatta, Karnataka.

Rathinda amor

 

The Monkey Puzzle, Rathinda amor (Fabricius) 1775 is a small lycaenid or blue butterfly found in south Asia.

Distribution

Western Ghats, South Indian plains (as far North as Bangalore), Orissa and Ganjam districts to Calcutta. Assam. Sri Lanka.

Status

Not Rare in India. It is common and present in all the Western Ghat districts of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Goa. It is common but not found in all the Ghat districts of Maharashtra and does not occur in Gujarat at all (Gaonkar)

Description

Sexes alike. Wingspan – 26 to 28 mm. Upperside – The butterfly is dark brown. It has a white-spot end cell. It has narrow white spots on 2 and 3 which form a short band on the forewing. On the UPH it has two black tornal spots and narrow dark reddish spota above them. Underside – The butterfly is white to dark yellowish brown. Forewing has irregular dark basal markings with a curved white discal line. The apical two-fifths are a rich dark brown colour. The hindwing has a silvery margin with many irregular black lines and spots within. It has three tails, being 2 mm, 6 mm and 2.5 mm in length.

Habits

This butterfly is found in jungle areas of moderate to heavy rainfall – both, in heavy forest and scrub. The butterfly occurs below 900 meters or so. It keeps to undergrowth and can be seen along forest paths and in clearings.

The butterfly has a weak flight, it stays low and does not fly for long without alighting. Its method of alighting is interesting – as soon as it lands, it turns around and waggles its tail filaments, it also sidesteps for a while – all this is apparently to confuse a predator as to which side is the head. This is a likely reason that the first naturalists may have named the species the Monkey Puzzle

Food Plants

The butterfly has a number of foodplants from families Rubiaceae, Dipterocarpeae, Euphorbiaceae, Loranthaceae, Sapindaceae and Myrtaceae. Mangifera indica, Meiogyne pannosa

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Superfamily:	Papilionoidea
Family:	Lycaenidae
Subfamily:	Theclinae
Genus:	Rathinda
Species:	R. amor

Junonia almana

The Peacock Pansy (Junonia almana) is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in South Asia

A small to medium sized orange butterfly with large eye spots on the upper side of hind wings, and smaller ones on the fore wing. The sexes are similar in colour and pattern. The females is usually larger. The short wavy black bands that emanate from the coastal margins are distinctive. The under side is variable. Some specimens have very small markings against a light ground colour, while others have more prominent eyes and richer colors.

Cattegory

Junonia is an important genus of Family Nymphalidae of Lepidoptera. It comprises brightly marked and beautifully coloured sun-loving butterflies collectively referred to as Pansies. These are a regular and attractive feature of the Indian countryside. The change of name from Precis to Junonia brings sighs of nostalgia to older Indian aurelians who have fond memories of growing up with the Precis-based scientific butterflies.

Distribution

India and Southeast Asia into China, and Japan.

Status and Habitat

A widely distributed species that is found all over India but is scarce at elevations above 3000 feet. This is an edge species and can be seen around rice fields more frequently than at any other location. It may be seen almost year round though its numbers peak only during the monsoons.

Habits

Its habits are very similar to the Chocolate Soldier or Lemon Pansy and it joins migratory flights. The large eyes are displayed suddenly when the butterfly opens its wings – this unexpected visual signal presumably confuses the predator and takes it by surprise.

Early Stages

The larvae feed on plants of the Acanthaceae

Taken from Payyanur , Kerala India.