28 Sahyadri Lesser Gull

August 12, 2023

Cepora nadina remba (Moore, [1858]) — കാട്ടു പാത്ത

Malayalam Name	:	കാട്ടു പാത്ത
Family	:	Pieridae
Sub-family	:	Pierinae
Tribe	:	Leptociaini
Order	:	Lepidoptera

DISTRIBUTION

South Asia and South East Asian

STATUS: Not common

HABITAT

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HABITS

Mud puddles, Both Wet and Dry season forms

IDENTIFICATION FEATURES

Small to Medium size butterfly with wingspan 55-65 mm.
Wet-season brood
Male has the upperside ground colour white.

Forewing has the basal half of costal margin suffused with greenish yellow and irrorated (sprinkled) sparsely with black scales; apex from the middle of the costa and termen black, the inner margin of the black arched and acutely produced inwards along the veins, the black on the termen narrowed posteriorly and in interspaces 1a and 1 reduced to a mere thread. Underside: white. Forewing: costal margin and apex very broadly suffused with greenish yellow and irrorated more or less densely with black scales, these latter form also diffuse subterminal patches on the white ground colour in interspaces 3 and 4; a preapical oblique short band bright yellow, its margins ill-defined; in interspaces 1 to 3 the black terminal markings on the upperside show through as a greyish-blue shade

Hindwing: terminal margin with a broad dark band, due to the markings of the underside that show through by transparency, the darkness accentuated by a slight irroration of black scales; apices of some of the anterior veins black, in some specimens these are dilated and form a narrow anterior black border. . Unerside of Hindwing: suffused with greenish yellow that leaves only a broad streak in the cell (continued beyond in interspaces 4 and 5) of the white ground colour apparent; the whole surface of the wing more or less densely irrorated with black scales, these have a tendency to form a broad lower obscure discal dark patch and a broad terminal margin, the space between these two bright yellow; a spot of bright yellow also in inter-space 6.
Dry-season brood
Male is similar to the wet-season brood, but on the upperside, the black on the apex and termen of the forewing not nearly so broad, on the latter often not reaching vein 1; on the hindwing the black is reduced to a sparse powdering of black scales along the termen.

SIMILAR SPECIES Con

LARVAL HOST PLANTS