Miletus symethus

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iGreat Brownie

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Superfamily:	Papilionoidea
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Miletus
Species:	M. symethus

Binomial name

Miletus symethus
(Cramer, 1779)

The Great Brownie (Miletus symethus) is a small but striking butterfly found in India that belongs to the Lycaenids or Blues family.

[edit] Description

Male Upperside: dusky brownish-black. Fore wing: the groundcolour darker, almost pure black in fresh specimens, on the apical third of the wing; a short streak in the middle of interspace 1, a more outwardly produced similar streak in interspace 2, basal halves of interspaces 3 and 4, the lower apex of the discoidal cell and the extreme base of interspace 5, white, all forming a median conspicuous irregular white patch on the wing, narrowly traversed by the veins which are greyish-brown. Hind wing: more uniform, slightly darker on its anterior half. Underside: light brown with an ochraceous tint. Fore wing: the median white patch as on the upperside but larger, its margins less clearly defined, continued posteriorly to the dorsal margin; obscure catenulated, incomplete, transverse, white-margined narrow bands, two at base and two or three very short ones above the white median patch on the costal area ,• from between the outer two of these latter a transverse, zigzag, very slender, somewhat obycure white line crosses the anterior portion of the wing to vein 4; lastly a pretornal quadrate brown spot near apex of interspace 1a and an obscure subterminal transverse series of slightly lunular small brown spots; the ground-colour terminally paler and more ocbraceous than on the inner portions of the wing. Hind wing: crossed by very obscure sinuous brown and white slender lines, that on the costal area form very short, obsolescent, catenulated narrow brown bands; a subterminal series of brown slender lunules, sometimes obsolete. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen brown; beneath : paler, the palpi and thorax more or less white.

Female upperside. Fore wing: dark brown; base shaded with greyish brown; the white median patch as in the male, but very much larger, its upper margin irregularly curved; it is spread over the anterior two-thirds of the cell, extends beyond it into the bases of interspaces 4, 5 and 6, and below the cell it occupies the basal four-fifths of interspaces 1 and 2. Hind wing: costal margin broadly dark brownish; wing posteriorly from below the subcostal vein and vein 6a beautiful pale bluish-grey; a broad whitish streak beyond the cell not reaching the termen. Underside, fore wing: the median white patch as on the upperside but larger, extending to the dorsal margin and base of cell; base of wing, costal margin above the subcostal vein and conjoined upper discal obliquely-placed patch greyish brown; apex of wing whitish, termen between veins 1 and 6 broadly stained with rusty; a conspicuous rusty pretornal spot; some obscure white-margined spots at base of cell and along costa, and a transverse subterminal series of black dots. Hind wing: pale ochraceous white, darkening to rusty brown towards the middle of the termen; a subbasal, a median and a discal transverse incomplete macular brown band, each spot in the bands margined on the inner and outer sides by slender black lines; finally a subterminal transverse series of short slender black threads. Antenna, head, thorax and abdomen as in the male.^[1]