Colotis eucharis
| Plain Orange-Tip | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Pieridae |
| Genus: | Colotis |
| Species: | C. eucharis |
| Binomial name | |
| Colotis eucharis (Fabricius, 1775) | |
| Synonyms | |
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Plain Orange-Tip, Colotis eucharis is a small butterfly of the Family Pieridae, that is, the Yellows and Whites, which is found in India.
Description
The upper side of the males has a pure white ground colour. Fore wing has the base and costa speckled with black scales near the base; has a broad apical orange-yellow patch, with the inner edge straight and margined with gamboge-yellow; the patch is sometimes without speckes, but often bears a black diffuse spot on its lower inner edge which may or may not extend to the termen below the orange ; costa, apex and termen, the latter nearly up to the tornus, edged and festooned beyond the orange area with black.[1] Hind wing of the male has black spots at the apices of the veins that vary in size and end on the termen, also a diffuse preapical black spot on the costa.
Underside is pure white in most specimens, suffused, except on the disc of the fore wing, with pinkish yellow, and at base of the same wing with pure sulphur-yellow ; apical orange patch and black terminal markings on the upperside of the fore wing show through by transparency, the former crossed by a sinuous fuscous band that ends in a black diffuse spot. Hind wing is shaded with ochraceous at base and with a fuscous preapical spot on costa, also a few scattered transverse fuscous striations and small spots.[1]
Many specimens have the preapical spot continued as an obscure fuscous band across the wing and bear a series of large terminal fuscous spots that correspond to the black spots on the upperside. Both fore and hind wings with black discocellular dots. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen black ; antennae speckled with white on the sides, head and thorax clothed with short greyish-brown hairs ; beneath the palpi, thorax and abdomen white.[1]
Female has the ground colour similar to the male; the markings differ from those of the male as follows: Upperside, fore wing: base and costa more heavily irrorated with greyish-black scales ; discocellular spot larger ; apical area black, with three enclosed elongate orange spots ; inner margin of black area irregularly sinuate and diffuse, extended shortly inwards in interspace 3 ; a transverse black spot across middle of interspace 1. Hind wing : base irrorated more sparsely than in the fore wing with greyish-black scales ; preapical spot on costa and terminal spots much larger ; in a few specimens there is an obscure transverse posterior discal fascia.
Underside : markings similar to but very much broader, more heavily marked, and more prominent than those in the male ; the transverse fuscous strife and dots more numerous. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen as in the male.[1]
Wing expanse of 36–50 mm.
Found in Central and Southern India from Jabalpur and Bombay to Travancore; Ceylon.
Notes
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.
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