Srilankan Plum Judy

Abisara echerius prunosa Moore, 1879 ആട്ടക്കാരൻ

Malayalam Name 

:

ആട്ടക്കാരൻ

Family 

:

Riodinidae

Sub-family             

:

Nemeoblinae

Tribe                     

: 

Leptociaini

Order

:

Lepidoptera


DISTRIBUTION
              Asia
STATUS:   Not common
HABITAT

HABITS
It has a habit of landing and turning around almost immediately after alighting. It repeats this turning movements as it moves along branches. This is believed to help in evading predators by causing confusion about head orientation. This distinctive mode of movement gives the impression of dancing and is an important field characteristic
IDENTIFICATION  FEATURES
Small size Black and white butterfly with wingspan 40-50 mm. 

Wet-season form




Male: Upperside rich purple-brown or maroon-brown with a blue gloss. Forewing with discal and postdiscal transverse fasciae very obscure and only slightly paler than the ground colour. Hindwing uniform; two inwardly conical small black spots near apex of interspace 1, and single similar but larger black spots near apices of interspaces 5 and 6; all these spots bordered slenderly and somewhat obscurely on the outer side with white. Underside dull maroon brown. Forewing with a broad, slightly curved discal, narrower postdiscal and subterminal transverse pale bands; the discal fascia broadening anteriorly. Hindwing: a slightly curved narrow discal pale fascia; the black spots as on the upperside, but bordered on the inner and on the outer sides by an obscure pale lunular line.

Dry-season form

Male: Upperside the maroon brown not glossed with purple; the transverse fasciae on the forewing and the black markings on the hindwing much as in the wet-season form, but the former more obscure, more diffuse, the latter smaller. Underside as in the wet-season form but paler.[7]

Female: Upper and under sides similar to those of the wet-season, form but conspicuously paler, the contrast between the dark basal and pale terminal halves in fore prominent, the discal band on the underside of the forewing very broad, diffuse and pale, often nearly white. Antenna, head, thorax and abdomen in both sexes as in the wet-season form but paler

SIMILAR SPECIES  It is difficult to distinguish it from Double Banded Judy
LARVAL HOST PLANTS
The eggs of the butterfly are laid on host plants belonging to the family Primulaceae, including Ardisia species, Maesa indica and Embelia laeta

LIFE CYCLE


MORE IMAGES

FEMALE
Male


Courtesy 
Write up:Wikipaedia
Images: TNHS

കേരള വനം വന്യജീവി വകുപ്പ്  
മാങ്കുളം ഡിവിഷൻ



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