Lethe europa
| Bamboo Treebrown | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Nymphalidae |
| Genus: | Lethe |
| Species: | L. europa |
| Binomial name | |
| Lethe europa (Fabricius, 1787)[1] | |
The Bamboo Treebrown Lethe europa is a species of Satyrinae butterfly found in Asia.
Description
Inner third of hind wing covered with long brown hairs.
Male upperside rich dark brown. Fore wing with the oblique short white discal fascia on the underside showing through, two obscure black spots or ocelli, followed by two prominent white spots, the upper one double, some black markings margined outwardly with pale dusky brown along terminal margins of both fore and hind wing and an obscure subterminal pale line on the latter.
Underside very dark blackish brown; the wings crossed subbasally by a slender lilacine-white straight line, followed on fore wing by an oblique short white discal fascia, and on both fore and hind wing by a post-discal series of large black ocelli and a terminal, somewhat ochraceous, narrow band bordered on the inner side by a more or less silvery purple line. The series on both fore and hind wing-margined inwardly and outwardly by silvery purple lunular lines, on the fore wing curved inwards, on the hind wing curved outwards; the ocelli on fore wing confluent, black, non-pupilled, on the hind wing black with disintegrate silvery-speckled irregular centres on a brown ground.
Female similar: fore wing on upperside with an oblique broad white discal band, hind wing with a postdiscal incomplete series of black spots. Underside similar to the underside in the male, markings and ocelli larger.[2]
Lethe europa tamuna de Nicéville is a race described originally from Little Nicobar. Michael Lloyd Ferrar (1948) reported seeing it from the Great Nicobar island in 1931. It has been rediscovered in recent times in the Campbell Bay area of Great Nicobar. Both adults and immatures were found along roadsides in disturbed forests. They were seen to breed on the bamboo Dinochloa andamanica Kurz. Eggs were laid on leaves deep inside the clump and never on the fringes.[3][4]
Life history
Larva, Green, paler beneath, fusiform; head with a single short erect horn; body attenuated suddenly from the 11th segment.[2]
Pupa. Uniform pale green, stout, smooth, quite regular, except the head-case which is semidetached, broad and angular, with two sharp points in front (after Davidson & Aitken).[2]
Galleria
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at Samsing in Darjeeling district of West Bengal, India.
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at Samsing in Darjeeling district of West Bengal, India.
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at Jayanti in Buxa Tiger Reserve in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, India.
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Bamboo Treebrown
External links
References
- ↑ Fabricius. (Papilio) Syst. Ent. 1775, p. 500:
- 1 2 3 Bingham, C. T. 1905. Fauna of British India. Butterflies. Volume 1.
- ↑ Ferrar, M. L. 1948. "The butterflies of the Andamans and Nicobars". J. Bombay nat. Hist. Soc. 47:470-491
- ↑ Veenakumari, K. and Prashanth Mohanraj 1997. "Rediscovery of Lethe europa tamuna with notes on other threatened butterflies from the Andamans and Nicobar Islands". Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society. 51(3):273-275 PDF