Prioneris sita

Painted Sawtooth
P. sita mudpuddling
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Pieridae
Genus:	Prioneris
Species:	P. sita
Binomial name
Prioneris sita C. Felder, 1865

Painted Sawtooth, Prioneris sita is a small butterfly of the Family Pieridae, that is, the Yellows and Whites, which is found in India.

Description

Painted Sawtooth mudpuddling. The species it mimics (Common Jezebel) will never be found mudpuddling

Upperside: White with a slight greenish tint.

Fore and hind wings: The markings of the underside faintly visible through the wing.

Underside: Fore wing: White, costa black and the apex suffuse with yellow. Hind wing: Rich chrome-yellow up to a postdiscal band. Beyond this the ground color is white with a series of large terminal vermillion-red spots. These spots are rectangular or truncated cone shaped. The antennae is brownish black. Head and thorax are covered with long bluish-grey hairs. The abdomen is greyish white.

Painted Sawtooth mudpuddling in someshwara

Expanse. male,female 86–90 mm (3.40-3.55").

Mimicry

Underside hind wing difference between Delias eucharis and Prioneris sita

The Painted Sawtooth is a batesian mimic of Delias eucharis, the Common Jezebel. The two can be told apart from the shape of the hind wing. The Painted Sawtooth has a much broader hind wing. The orange red spots on the margin of the hind wing, in the Painted Sawtooth, are more squarish in shape whereas in the Common Jezebel they are arrow head shaped.

The Painted Sawtooth also flies faster and inhabits dense forests. Unlike the Common Jezebel it can also be found mudpuddling.

Life cycle

Larva: Dull blue-green colored. The head and all the segments are dotted with minute blue tubercles, those on the head and sides are black-tipped. Dorsal surface pubescent with a lateral fringe of soft white hairs below the spiracles.

Pupa: Bright green in color. Sharply pointed at the head, with two strong lateral points and keeled on the dorsal surface of the thoracic segments. There is an interrupted yellow dorsal line, and a short curved crimson line on each side below the thoracic segments bordering a small white irregular black speckled spot.

See also

• Pieridae
• List of butterflies of India
• List of butterflies of India (Pieridae)

References

• Evans, W.H. (1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies. (2nd Ed), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India
• Gaonkar, Harish (1996) Butterflies of the Western Ghats, India (including Sri Lanka) - A Biodiversity Assessment of a threatened mountain system. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society.
• 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.

External links