White-disc Hedge Blue

Celatoxia albidisca (Moore, [1884])


Malayalam Name     

:

ചോല വേലിനീലി

Common Name

;

White-Disk Hedge Blue

Order 

:

Lepidoptera

Super Family            

:

Papilionoidae (Butterflies)

Family              

: 

Lycaenidae

Sub Family

:

Polyommatinae

 DISTRIBUTION : South India

STATUS:    Endemic to Western Ghats

HABITAT

HABITS

IDENTIFICATION  FEATURES

Small sized butterfly with wingspan 30-40 mm. 

Male upperside: dull indigo blue, not so dark as C. puspa when looked at from above vertically and with much less refulgent iridescence in an oblique light; the white on both forewings and hindwings much more clearly defined, never diffuse and apparently present at all seasons; on the forewing the white is limited to the basal portions of interspaces 2 and 3 and does not extend into the cell or above vein 4; on the hindwing it occupies the basal half of interspace 6 and is strictly bounded by vein 7 above and vein 6 below. The terminal margins of both forewings and hindwings with much narrower black edgings than in C. puspa. Underside: differs from that of C. puspa in the markings, which are smaller and much more delicate; on the forewing the transverse postdiscal series of abbreviated line-like markings is bisinuate, placed further towards the terminal margin and has the component spots somewhat differently arranged; on the hindwing also the spots on the disc posteriorly are more regular than in C. puspa

Female: Upperside ground colour and white on disc of wings almost as in C. puspa, but always both in forewings and hindwings more limited, the black costal and terminal margins consequently broader. Underside: the markings as in the male, and therefore differ in a similar manner from those of C. puspa female.

 

SIMILAR SPECIES:

Closely similar to Common Hedge Blue ( C. puspa ) but nderside: differs from that in the markings, which are smaller and much more delicate; on the forewing the transverse postdiscal series of abbreviated line-like markings is bisinuate, placed further towards the terminal margin and has the component spots somewhat differently arranged; on the hindwing also the spots on the disc posteriorly are more regular than in C. puspa

LARVAL HOST PLANTS

 

LIFE CYCLE

MORE  IMAGES

 








 Courtesy 
Write up:Wikipaedia
Images: TNHS

കേരള വനം വന്യജീവി വകുപ്പ്  
മാങ്കുളം ഡിവിഷൻ

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