Prioneris sita (Felder & Felder, 1865)
Anila Manalil, Painted Sawtooth
Malayalam Name | : | കാട്ടു വിലാസിനി | Common Name | : | Painted Sawtooth | Order | : | Lepidoptera | Super Family | : | Papilionoidae (Butterflies) | Family | : | Pieridae | Sub Family | : | Pierinae | Tribe | : | | Scientific Name | : | Prioneris sita |
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DISTRIBUTION Western Ghats and Sri Lanka. Prioneris sita is only found in a small stretch of the Western Ghats, ranging from West-Central Karnataka, to the Nilgiris and Wayanad, south to Nilambur. It is a rare visitor to Travancore.
STATUS: Endemic to Western Ghats and Sri Lanka.
HABITAT Endemic to Western Ghats and Sri Lanka.
HABITS It mimics Common Jezebel, but mud puddles unlike Jezebel.
IDENTIFICATION FEATURES Medium size white butter fly with wingspan 85-90 mm.
Upperside: White with a slight greenish tint. Forewings and hindwings: The markings of the underside faintly visible through the wing. Underside: Forewing: White, costa black and the apex suffuse with yellow. Hindwing: Rich chrome yellow up to a postdiscal band. Beyond this the ground color is white with a series of large terminal vermillion-red spots. These spots are rectangular or truncated cone shaped.
SIMILAR SPECIES Indian Jezebel (Delias eucharis) The two can be told apart from the shape of the hindwing. The painted sawtooth has a much broader hindwing. The orange-red spots on the margin of the hindwing, in the painted sawtooth, are more squarish in shape whereas in the common Jezebel they are arrowhead shaped. The painted sawtooth also flies faster and inhabits dense forests LARVAL HOST PLANTS Capparis tenera, C. zeylanica, C. spinosa (Capparaceae).
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MORE IMAGES
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| Anila Manalil |
Anila Manalil, Painted Sawtooth
Anila Manalil, Painted Sawtooth
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| Painted Sawtooth -Side View - Bernad M Thampan |
Courtesy
Write up:Wikipaedia
Images: TNHS
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കേരള വനം വന്യജീവി വകുപ്പ് മാങ്കുളം ഡിവിഷൻ |
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