Tawny Coster

August 21, 2023

Acraea terpsicore (Linnaeus, 1758) തീച്ചിറകൻ

Malayalam Name	:	തീച്ചിറകൻ
Family	:	Nyphalidae
Sub-family	:	Heliconidae
Tribe	:	Leptociaini
Order	:	Lepidoptera

DISTRIBUTION

Species found in South Asia, South East Asia and Australia.

STATUS: No

HABITAT

The

HABITS

Tts

IDENTIFICATION FEATURES

Small size Black and tawny orange butterfly with wingspan 53-64 mm.
Upperside tawny.
Forewing: a transverse black spot in cell, and another irregular, oblique and broader at the discocellulars; a discal series of spots in interspaces 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10, and the apex and termen black. The upper four spots of the discal series inclined obliquely outwards, the lower two obliquely inwards; the black edging to apex and termen narrowing posteriorly, but with slender linear projections inwards in the interspaces.
Hindwing: a basal series of four or five black spots with a similar spot beyond in middle of cell and a subcostal black spot above it, followed by a discal series of obscure blackish spots and a minute postdiscal black dot in interspaces 4 and 6 respectively; finally, a broad black terminal band medially traversed by a series of small spots of the ground colour. Most of the macular black markings are obscure, being only the spots on the underside seen by the transparency of the wing membrane; the inner edge of the black terminal band crenulate.
Underside ground colour ochraceous yellow or a paler tawny yellow. Forewing: paling to whitish on the apex, with the black markings as on the upperside but somewhat blurred and diffuse.Hindwing: the black spots and black terminal band as on the upperside, but the spots more clearly defined, none obscure; the series of spots traversing the black terminal margin very much larger and white - not tawny; the base of the wing black, separated from the basal transverse series of black spots by two or three large whitish spots.

SIMILAR SPECIES Con

LARVAL HOST PLANTS

Passiflora spp., P. edulis, P. foetida, P. subpeltata, Turnera subulata, T. ulmifolia (Passifloraceae), Cucurbitaceae, Hibiscus cannabinus (Malvaceae), Adenia hondala, Aporosa cardiosperma (Phyllanthaceae), Vitex pinnata (Lamiaceae).

LIFE CYCLE