Oreolyce vardhana

The Dusky Hedge Blue (Oreolyce vardhana)^[1] is a small butterfly found in Sri Lanka^[2] that belongs to the Lycaenids or Blues family.

Description

Male upperside fore wing: costa, apex and termen very broadly dusky black; at apex this colour occupies more than a third of the wing in some specimens, and in most is carried narrowly along the dorsal margin to the base; the remainder of the wing pale iridescent blue; the discocellulars marked by a jet-black, very prominent, short, posteriorly acute bar. Hind wing: costal margin broadly shaded with dusky black, the rest of the wing pale iridescent blue, the posterior veins black, very prominent. Underside : pearly-white, the bases of the wings slightly glossed with blue. Fore wing: a short broad line on the discocellulars, three upper discal spots placed obliquely beyond it, the anterior two mere minute dots and a postdiscal inwardly oblique series of three larger spots, all dark brown. Hind wing: uniform with a few minute dark brown spots, of which a basal spot in interspace 7 and another further outwards in the same interspace are the most conspicuous. Cilia of both fore and hind wings white. Antenna, head and thorax dark brown, the antennte as usual ringed with white; beneath: the palpi, thorax and abdomen white. Female very similar to the male, differs as follows:—Upperside, fore wing: the disc white, very faintly irrorated with iridescent^[3]

Range

It is found in Sri Lanka.^[2]

Cited references

See also

• Lycaenidae
• List of butterflies of India
• List of butterflies of India (Lycaenidae)

References

• Beccaloni, G. W., Scoble, M. J., Robinson, G. S. & Pitkin, B. (Editors). 2003. The Global Lepidoptera Names Index (LepIndex). World Wide Web electronic publication. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/lepindex [accessed 14 October 2006].
• Evans, W.H. (1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies. (2nd Ed), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India