| Immaculate/Large/Suffused Snow Flat | |
|---|---|
| Western Ghats specimen | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Hesperiidae |
| Genus: | Tagiades |
| Species: | T. gana |
| Binomial name | |
| Tagiades gana (Moore, 1865) |
|
Tagiades gana, commonly known as the Immaculate/Large/Suffused Snow Flat, is a butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae.
Watson (1891) gives a detailed description as follows :-[1]
Male and female have a dark brown ground colour. The male has on the upperside of the forewing, three minute semi-transparent spots obliquely before the apex ; a transverse discal series of streaks, a small patch within the cell, one near the base of the wing, and exterior margin blackish ; hindwing with the lower third pure white which is straightly separated from the brown of the basal portion ; apical margin and three spots on the upper part of the disc, black, and two spots on the middle of the white anterior margin. Underside paler brown, semi-transparent spots on forewing as above : hindwing white suffused with brown along the anterior margin : upper discal and marginal spots as above black. Female paler. Upperside somewhat greyish-brown ; forewing with spots and blackish discal streaks, and hindwing with upper discal spots as in male : exterior margin of hindwing greyish-white. Underside as in male. Cilia of both sexes pure white on the lower portion of the hindwing, the rest brown.
Dioscorea alata is a host plant for the larvae.[2]
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