Delias belladonna
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| iHill Jezebel | ||||||||||||||||
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| Delias belladonna (Fabricius, 1793) |
Delias belladonna, the Hill Jezebel, is a medium sized mountain butterfly of India. It belongs to the Family Pieridae, that is, the Yellows and Whites.
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[edit] Description
[edit] Range
South India, Sri Lanka, Peninsular India, Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, Goa, Karnataka, Nilgiris, Maharashtra, Goa, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Tamilnadu, Kerala
[edit] Range
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Northern India (including Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Garhwal and Kumaon, Sikkim, Assam , Arunachal, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland), Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Andamans, Nicobar Islands, Thailand, southern and and eastern China (including Hainan, Guangdong province), Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Laos, Vietnam, Kampuchea, Peninsular and Eastern Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines (Palawan and Leyte), peninsular and Eastern Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia (Sumatra, Borneo, nias, Enggano, Bangka, Java, Bali, Kangean, Lombok, Sumbawa, Sumba, Flores, Tanahjampea and Kailmantan), Philippines, Papua and New Guinea, Australia
[edit] Status
Ver Common. Common. Locally Common. Not uncommon. Not Rare. Rare. Not known to be threatened. Vulnerable. Abundant. Scarce. It is protected by law in India.
[edit] Habitat
Generally found in the semi-evergreen and evergreen tropical forests of the Western Ghats where it flies mainly during the monsoon months.
[edit] Habits
Flight. Bask. Resting. Mud-puddling. Flowers. Bait. Unpalatability. Mimicry/model. Association with ants. Seasonal Abundance.
The Jezebel flies high up in the canopy and only comes lower down to feed on nectar in flowers. Due to this habit the colors on the underside of the butterfly's wing are very brilliant and the upperside is dull so that birds below it recognise it immediately.
The Jezebel is a distasteful butterfly due to alkaloids present in its body tissue. These alkaloids are consumed and accumulated during the caterpillar stage.
[edit] Lifecycle
[edit] Eggs
Eggs are laid in batches. About 10 - 20 in number although more is not unheard of.
[edit] Larva
The caterpillars are gregarious in the first few instars. Caterpillars are yellow brown with a black head and have white tubercules from which long white hair arise.
[edit] Pupa
The chrysalis is a bright yellow color marked with black spots and lines. It is attached to the underside of a leaf or branch or any other suitable surface by a strong tail attachment and a tight body band.
[edit] Foodplants
The host plants are various species of small shrubs which are plant parasites growing on sbranches of trees such as Loranthus.
[edit] References
- Evans, W.H. (1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies. (2nd Ed), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India
- Gay, Thomas; Kehimkar, Isaac & Punetha, J.C.(1992) Common Butterflies of India. WWF-India and Oxford University Press, Mumbai, India.
- Kunte, Krushnamegh (2005) Butterflies of Peninsular India. Universities Press.
- Wynter-Blyth, M.A. (1957) Butterflies of the Indian Region, Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.
