Zemeros flegyas

Punchinello

Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Riodinidae
Genus:	Zemeros
Species:	Z. flegyas
Binomial name
*Zemeros flegyas* (Guerin, 1843)

Mounted specimen of Zemeros flegyas sparsus from Nias island

The Punchinello (Zemeros flegyas) is a small butterfly found in South Asia and Southeast Asia that belongs to the Riodinidae family.

Subspecies

Zemeros flegyas flegyas Assam, N. India, S. Yunnan
Zemeros flegyas indicus Fruhstorfer, 1898 Yunnan
Zemeros flegyas albipunctatus Butler, 1874 Peninsular Malaya, Singapore
Zemeros flegyas allica (Fabricius, 1787) Burma, Thailand, Langkawi, Indo China
Zemeros flegyas annamensis Fruhstorfer, 1912 Annam
Zemeros flegyas sipora Riley Mentawai
Zemeros flegyas arimazes Fruhstorfer, 1912 Lombok
Zemeros flegyas balinus Fruhstorfer, 1912 Bali
Zemeros flegyas celebensis Fruhstorfer, 1899 C. Sulawesi
Zemeros flegyas confucius (Moore, 1878) Hainan
Zemeros flegyas hostius Fruhstorfer, 1912 N. Borneo
Zemeros flegyas javanus Moore, 1902 Java
Zemeros flegyas phyliscus Fruhstorfer, 1912 Sumatra
Zemeros flegyas retiarius Grose-Smith, 1895 Sumbawa
Zemeros flegyas sosiphanes Fruhstorfer, 1912 S. Sulawesi
Zemeros flegyas sparsus Fruhstorfer, 1898 Nias island
Zemeros flegyas strigatus Pagenstecher Sumba
Zemeros flegyas hondai Hayashi, 1976 Palawan

^[1]

Description

See glossary for terms used

Like many tropical butterflies they show different wet and dry season forms.

Wet-season form

Male upperside is vinaceous brown, the veins ochraceous brown. Fore and hind wings crossed by four series of minute white spots, the postdiscal series very often obscure, each spot bordered inwardly by a more or less elongate black spot; a terminal very slender black line; cilia alternately black and white. Underside is bright ochraceous brown, the veins conspicuously paler, the white black-bordered spots as on the upperside but larger, more clearly defined and prominent. Antennae brown ringed with white; club black, ochraceous at apex; head, thorax and abdomen concolorous with the wings ; beneath, the palpi, thorax and abdomen slightly paler than the wings.

Dry-season form

Dry-season form at Samsing in Darjeeling district of West Bengal, India.

Male upperside has the ground colour darker than in the wet-season form; the spots are smaller and duller in colour. On the fore wing the postdiscal series of spots often obsolescent except the spots in interspaces 3, 6 and 8, the latter two very large and prominent; sub-terminal series of spots also often obsolescent. The veins on both fore and hind wings not paler than the ground-colour. Underside is similar to the underside in the wet-season form, but the groundcolour a shade darker; the veins not conspicuously paler; the white spots as in the wet-season form, except the postdiscal and subterminal series on the fore wing, which are as on the upperside, the anterior large white spots of the postdiscal series being very prominent; the inner black bordering to the white spots much smaller than in the wet-season form. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen as in the wet-season form.

Females have the upper and undersides similar to those of the wet-season form, but the ground-colour brighter and paler; markings also similar, but the black bordering to the white spots less prominent.^[2]

Larva

Adult: length .75 of an inch. Ovate, extremely flattened, inconspicuous. Colour pale green, head and anal segment slightly lighter; all the segments laterally rounded, covered with a whitish down, especially at the sides ; an indistinct double longitudinal dorsal darker-green line throughout, enclosing a minute orange spot on seventh and eleventh segments; middle segments more than twice as broad as they are long; legs pale green, set well beneath the animal and rather close together. Full-grown at the end of March. Larva when about to change into the pupal state attaches itself to a patch of silky web, by the last segment, to the underside of a leaf of the food-plant, with the head towards the apex, and is girt about the middle with another web.

^[2]

Larva feed on Maesa species (Maesa chisia, Maesa montana, Maesa indica). ^[1]

Pupa

Length .55 to .70 of an inch. Fusiform, broadest in the middle . . . . anterior end truncate-rounded, distinctly broader than the posterior ; the whole pupa flattened and of very slight depth even in the thickest part; the divisions hotween the segments well-marked ; posterior segment bluntly rounded; head also rounded and divided in the middle at the apex into two lobes by a shallow notch........colour bright yellowish green throughout, marked above with rich emerald-green narrow lines arranged in an arabesque-like pattern on the two outer-thirds ; a series of round spots along the middle of the back on the abdomen only, and a subdorsal line on either side interrupted at the segmental constrictions. Under surface pale yellowish green throughout, entirely unmarked..... The whole surface of the pupa smooth, without any hairs or shagreening whatever.