Sahyadri Common Albatross

August 15, 2023

Appias (Catophaga) albina swinhoei (Moore, 1905) ആൽബട്രോസ്

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

DISTRIBUTION

South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and Australia.

STATUS:

HABITAT

HABITS

IDENTIFICATION FEATURES

Medium size white butter fly with wingspan 50-75 mm.The sexes are dimorphic;

Wet-season form
Males have the upper forewings irrorated (sprinkled) with black scales at the apex and anteriorly along the termen. On the underside, the apex of the forewing and the whole surface of the hindwing are pale dull ochraceous, sometimes with a faint pinkish tint, but never pale yellow.
females differ as follows:
1st form: On the upperside, the posterior tornal portion of the black area on the forewing is not inwardly rounded, but straight and generally diffuse. the outer margin is irregularly zigzag, and never evenly curved.
2nd form: Markings as in the 1st form, but the ground colour on the upperside is entirely pale yellow. On the underside, the apical half of the cell and the disc of the forewing up to the black band are pale sulphur yellow. The oblique curved black band is as in the 1st form and the interspace 1 is whitish. The rest of the forewing and the entire surface of the hindwing are rich chrome yellow.
Dry-season form
Male: Upper and undersides: similar to that of the wet-season specimens, but in the male the dusting of black scales on the upperside has almost, in some specimens completely, disappeared, while on the underside the ochraceous colouring is much paler.
In the females both dimorphs differ but little from the dimorphs of the wet-season form, only on the upperside the black on the apical half of the forewing and on the terminal margin of the hindwing is more restricted, while on the underside the oblique curved black band that crosses the forewing is distinctly narrower with a tendency to become diffuse.