Phalanta phalantha
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| Common Leopard | ||||||||||||||||
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| Phalanta phalantha (Drury, 1773) |
The Common Leopard Phalanta phalantha is a beautiful sun-loving butterfly of the Nymphalid or Brush-footed Butterfly family.
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[edit] Field Characteristics
The Common Leopard is a medium sized butterfly with a wingspan of 50-55 mm with a tawny colour and marked with black spots. The underside of the butterfly is more glossy than the upper and both the male and female are similar looking. A more prominent purple gloss on the underside is found in the dry season form of this butterfly. [1]
[edit] Distribution
The butterfly is found in southern Asia (including Sri Lanka and Burma).
[edit] Status
Widely distributed and abundant. To the tops of hills in Sri Lanka and southern India and up to 3,000 m in the Himalaya.
[edit] Habits
_in_Kolkata_W_IMG_3673_.jpg/180px-Common_Leopard_Phalanta_phalantha_on_a_Synedrella_nodiflora_(Cinderella_weed)_in_Kolkata_W_IMG_3673_.jpg)
Sun loving and avoids shade. Seen in the plains, gardens and edges of clearings. Has active and sharp flight movements. Visits flowers regularly especially Lantana, Duranta, Meyenia laxiflora, Gymnosporia montana and thistles. Often seen mudpuddling from damp patches in the ground, either alone or in groups. A regular basker with wings spread wide open. It is commonest in dry areas and dry weather and absent from the wetter parts of India during the monsoon. It often perches on edges of clearing with wings half open and has the habit of chasing away other butterflies and guarding its territory.[1]
[edit] Life Cycle
Foodplants are species of family Bixaceae. It has been recorded breeding on Flacourtia ramontchi and Flacourtia montana, Smilax Xylosma longifolium[2] and Salix.
Larval host plants recorded from families Acanthaceae, Compositae, Flacourtiaceae, Primulaceae, Salicaceae, Rubiaceae, Violaceae and specific plants are Barleria prionitis, Canthium parviflorum, Coffea arabica, Dovyalis caffra, Dovyalis gardnerii, Dovyalis hebecarpa, Dovyalis macrocalyx, Dovyalis rotundifolia, Flacourtia indica, Flacourtia inermis, Flacourtia jangomas, Flacourtia montana, Flacourtia ramontchii, Mangifera indica, Maytenus buchanii, Melaleuca leucadendra, Petalostigma quadriloculare, Populus alba, Populus × canescens, Populus deltoides, Salix babylonica, Salix tetrasperma, Salix warburgii, Scolopia chinensis, Scolopia oldhami, Scolopia scolopia, Smilax tetragona, Tridax procumbens, Trimeria grandifolia, Xylosma racemosa[3]
[edit] Gallery
 In Kolkata, West Bengal, India. |
 In Kolkata, West Bengal, India. |
 In Kolkata, West Bengal, India. |
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[edit] References
- ^ a b Kunte, Krushnamegh (2000). Butterflies of Peninsular India. University Press, Hyderabad (pp 122-124)
- ^ Kunte, K. 2006. Additions to the known larval host plants of Indian butterflies. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 103(1):119-121
- ^ HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/projects/hostplants/) accessed on July 02, 2007.
- Wynter-Blyth, M.A., (1957) Butterflies of the Indian Region, Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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