Jamides alecto

Metallic cerulean
At Parambikulam, Kerala, India
Jamides Alecto espada Lectotype Courvoisier Collection, Basel
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Jamides
Species:	J. alecto
Binomial name
Jamides alecto (C. Felder 1860)[1]

Jamides alecto, the metallic cerulean, is a small butterfly found in the Indomalayan realm but which crosses the Wallace line into the Australasian realm (Celebes). It belongs to the lycaenids or blues family.

Subspecies

• J. a. alecto Moluccas
• J. a. kondulana (Felder, 1862) Nicobars
• J. a. latimargus (Snellen, 1878) Sulawesi
• J. a. elpidion (Doherty, 1891) Enggano
• J. a. mentawica (Hagen, 1902) Mentawai
• J. a. dromicus (Fruhstorfer, 1910) Taiwan
• J. a. alocina Swinhoe, 1915 Sri Lanka, South India - Burma, Thailand, Laos, S.China, Malay Peninsula
• J. a. espada (Fruhstorfer, 1916) Sulawesi
• J. a. eurysaces (Fruhstorfer, 1916) North India, Assam - Thailand
• J. a. meilichius (Fruhstorfer, 1916) Ceylon
• J. a. thanetus (Fruhstorfer, 1916) Nias
• J. a. ozea (Fruhstorfer, 1916) Sikkim
• J. a. ageladas (Fruhstorfer, 1916) Sumatra
• J. a. alvenus (Fruhstorfer, 1916) Selajar
• J. a. horsfieldi (Toxopeus, 1929) Java
• J. a. simalurana (Toxopeus, 1930) Simalue
• J. a. luniger (Toxopeus, 1930) Sulawesi
• J. a. manilana (Toxopeus, 1930) Philippines
• J. a. fusca Evans, 1932 Andamans
• J. a. kawazoei Hayashi, [1977] Palawan

The larva feeds on Elettaria cardamomum, Hevea, Pueraria, Alpinia, Boesenbergia, Curcuma, Elettaria, Hedychium, Kaempferia, Zingiber attended by ants.

See also

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

References

• Evans, W.H. (1932). The Identification of Indian Butterflies (2nd ed.). Mumbai, India: Bombay Natural History Society. 
• Gaonkar, Harish (1996). Butterflies of the Western Ghats, India (including Sri Lanka) - A Biodiversity Assessment of a Threatened Mountain System. Bangalore, India: Centre for Ecological Sciences. 
• Gay, Thomas; Kehimkar, Isaac David; Punetha, Jagdish Chandra (1992). Common Butterflies of India. Nature Guides. Bombay, India: World Wide Fund for Nature-India by Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195631647. 
• Haribal, Meena (1992). The Butterflies of Sikkim Himalaya and Their Natural History. Gangtok, Sikkim, India: Sikkim Nature Conservation Foundation. 
• Kunte, Krushnamegh (2000). Butterflies of Peninsular India. India, A Lifescape. Hyderabad, India: Universities Press. ISBN 978-8173713545. 
• Wynter-Blyth, Mark Alexander (1957). Butterflies of the Indian Region. Bombay, India: Bombay Natural History Society. ISBN 978-8170192329. 

External links

Wikispecies has information related to: Jamides alecto

• Asahi—Correctly determined photos of J. alecto from the Philippines