Oriental Orchid Tit

Hypolycaena othona othona (Hewitson, 1865)


Malayalam Name     

:

ഓർക്കിഡ് നീലി

Common Name

;

Oriental Orchid Tit

Order 

:

Lepidoptera

Super Family            

:

Papilionoidae (Butterflies)

Family              

: 

Lycaenidae

Sub Family

:

Theclinae

DISTRIBUTION
The Western Ghats and Himalayas. Oriental Orchid Tit is one of the rare butterflies in Western Ghats but not rare in North India
STATUS: Very Rare in WG.
HABITAT : The species prefers wet forests of up to 1524 meters altitude from the mean sea level 
HABIT: The caterpillars of orchid tit feed on the flower buds and flowers of orchids. The adults occasionally visits damp patches for mud puddling.
IDENTIFICATION FEATURES: 
LARVAL HOST PLANT: Orchids especially the  genera   Arundina,   Dendrobium,   Papilionanthe,   Phaius,   Phalaenopsis, Spathoglottis and the specific species are Papilionanthe subulata and Spathoglottis plicata
MORE IMAGES   








Courtesy 

Write up:Wikipaedia
Images: TNHS

കേരള വനം വന്യജീവി വകുപ്പ്  
മാങ്കുളം ഡിവിഷൻ


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Oriental Striped Tiger

Image
Danaus genutia genutia (Cramer, [1779]) Malayalam Name  : വരയൻ കടുവ Family  : Nyphalidae Sub-family              : Danainae Tribe                      :  Leptociaini Order : Lepidoptera DIST RIBUTION                   Pe STATUS:    No HABITAT This butterfly occurs in scrub jungles, fallowland adjacent to habitation, dry and moist deciduous forests, preferring areas of moderate to heavy rainfall. Also occurs in degraded hill slopes and ridges, both, bare or denuded, and, those covered with secondary growth HABITS Members of this genus are leathery, tough to kill and fake death. Since they are unpleasant to smell and taste, they are soon released by the predators, recover and fly off soon thereafter. The butterfly sequesters toxins from plants of the family  Asclepiadaceae . The butterflies also congregate with othe...
Read more

Sahyadri Paris Peacock

Image
Papilio paris tamilana Moore, 1881- ചുട്ടി മയൂരി Malayalam Name  :   ചുട്ടി  മയൂരി Family  : Papilionidae Sub-family              : Papilioninae Tribe                      :   Leptocircini Order : Lepidoptera DISTRIBUTION: The species found throughout S outh East Asia and India. the subspecies found in South India   STATUS: Common HABITAT:  Territorial, male patrolling the territory frequently, Mud puddling IDENTIFICATION FEATURES:  Black butterfly with  with  100–140 mm  wings span. Upperwings are black and sprinkled with irridiscent dark green scales, which on the outer portion of the forewing coalesce and form an incomplete postdiscal narrow band which is straighter than the similar subterminal band on the forewing of Common Banded Peacock. On the hindwing,; a conspicuous upper discal shining blue patch occupies the base of interspace...
Read more

Northern Lime Swallowtail

Image
Papilio demoleus demolius (Linnacus 1758)   നാരകശലഭം   Photo: Anila Manalil Malayalam Name          :      നാരകശലഭം   Family                           :     Papilionidae Sub-family                    :     Papilioninae Tribe                             :     Papilionini Order                            :     Lepidoptera DISTRIBUTION It is distributed throughout South and Ssoutheast Asia and is common every where. STATUS Very common  HABITAT This species is perhaps found in more diverse habitats than any other Swallowtails. Its habitat range from savannas, fallow lands and gardens to semi-evergreen a...
Read more