Indian Sunbeam

August 09, 2023

Curetis thetis (Drury, [1773]

Male

Malayalam Name	:	സൂര്യശലഭം
Order	:	Lepidoptera
Family	:	Lycaenidae
Sub-family	:	Curatinae
Other names	:

DISTRIBUTION

Indo-Malayan Realm

STATUS: Not rare

HABITAT:

HABITS

IDENTIFICATION FEATURES

Wing Span: 40-48cm

Male: Forewing with big dark cupreous red patch which is in triangular shape with narrow balck margin., the inner edge of the black is acutely angulated. Hindwing: base and dorsum broadly but slightly irrorated (sprinkled) with dusky scales; costa narrowly, dorsal margin more broadly pale; termen very narrowly and evenly margined with black Underside: shining silvery white. Forewings and hindwings crossed transversely by discal and inner subterminal, somewhat lunular dark lines and a more or less obsolescent outer subterminal line of minute dark dots. These markings are generally very indistinct but traceable; in some specimens more clearly defined but never prominent. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen dusky black; the antennae reddish at apex; in some specimens the head, the thorax laterally and the base of the abdomen brownish-mouse colour; beneath: the palpi, thorax and the basal half of the abdomen medially silvery white, the sides and apex of the abdomen dusky black

Female: Upperside: forewing dark brownish black; a large medial patch that extends from vein 1 to vein 4, enters the lower half of the cell and extends from base outwards for about two-thirds the length of the wing, white; at the base of the wing this patch is shaded and obscured for a short distance by dusky black. Hindwing: pale dusky black; a darker, short, broad brownish-black streak from base along the subcostal vein, that outwardly broadens into an irregularly round patch beyond which is a broad short upper discal white band with ill-defined and somewhat diffuse margins. Cilia, forewings and hindwings: white. Underside: as in the male but the markings still more indistinct, and in almost no specimen is there any trace of the outer subterminal line of dark dots.

SIMILAR SPECIES

LARVAL HOST PLANTS

Abrus precatorius, Aganope thyrsiflora, Butea monosperma, Derris scandens, Pongamia pinnata, Xylia xylocarpa, Dendrolobium triangulare (Fabaceae); Heynea trijuga (Meliaceae).

LIFE CYCLE