Castalius ananda

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Dark Pierrot

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Superfamily:	Papilionoidea
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Castalius
Species:	C. rosimon

Binomial name

Castalius ananda
De Nicéville 1884

The Dark Pierrot (Castalius rosimon) is a small butterfly found in India that belongs to the Lycaenids or Blues family.

1 Description
- 1.1 Male
2 Female
3 Distribution
4 Larva
5 Pupa
6 References
7 See also

[edit] Description

[edit] Male

Upperside: dark purple, sometimes fuliginous, sometimes bright and shining. Fore and hind wings: terminal margins edged with fuscous brownish-black and an anticiliary jet-black line; cilia brown ; tail black tipped with white. Underside: more or less dingy white. Fore wing: a broad oblique brownish-black band from base to just before the middle of the eosta; from the latter a dark brownish-black bar proceeds vertically down to middle of interspace 3, on the inner side of this and touching it in the middle is a large brownish-black irregular spot that extends posteriorly to vein 1 ; beyond this a broad discal trausverse brownish-black band twice interrupted, the posterior portion slightly narrowed below is shifted obliquely inwards and ends on vein 1 ; this is followed by a postdiscal transverse series of brownish-black spots that anteriorly nearly coalesces with the discal band, a transverse subterminal line of similar but smaller spots and a well-marked anticiliary black line. Hind wing: a basal short, brownish-black, anteriorly attenuate bar placed obliquely, a transverse subbasal band of four large coalescent black spots, a transverse curved discal band twice broken as on the fore wing and similar postdiscal subterminal and terminal markings. Antennae black, shafts ringed with white, head, thorax and abdomen dark brownish-black; beneath : the palpi black, thorax and abdomen down the middle white.^[1]

[edit] Female

Upperside : fuscous black. Fore and hind wings: in most specimens the markings of the underside show (sometimes very conspicuously) through. Underside: as in the male. Antenna, head, thorax and abdomen similar to those of the male.^[1]

[edit] Distribution

Sikkim;Orissa;Southern India:Kanara, Nilgiri and Anaimalai Hills; Assam : Khasi Hills.^[1]

[edit] Larva

"Like that of Castalius rosimon feeds only on the parenchyma of the leaf .... It is of the usual woodlouse form, slightly flattened head concealed in the second segment; surface more or less rough; a fringe of long white bristles all round with an erected ridge of similar bristles along the back from the second segment; those on the 3rd and 7th segments and the last two much longer than the others; those on the 2nd segment very few, short and black. It has a conspicuous gland on the 12th segment, and is attended by small species of ants of the genus Cremastogaster. Its colour is pale green, the dorsal portion of the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th and last two segments being dark brown, while the centre segments are almost yellow with a darker dorsal line. We found it feeding on Zizyphus xylopyrus and also on Loranthus, where it was attended by Crematogaster ants."^[1]

[edit] Pupa

"Of the usual Castalius form but narrow and slightly flattened. It is intensely glossy as if covered with gum. It varies in colour, being sometimes black, at others green with inconstant black markings." (Davidson, Bell & Aitken)^[1]