Acytolepis lilacea
Encyclopedia
The Hampson's Hedge Blue (Acytolepis lilacea) is a small butterfly
found in Sri Lanka
that belongs to the Lycaenids or Blues
family.
Female Upperside: brownish black. Fore wing: from base for a little more than two-thirds of its length and from the posterior half of the discoidal cell to the dorsum white, beautifully glossed with purplish blue at the upper outer corner of the area indicated above, which is pure white. Hind wing: glossed with blue over a broad central area from base to a broad brownish-black terminal border, on the inner margin of which and partially coalescing with it is a transverse series of large round jet-black spots, inwardly narrowly and obscurely margined with bluish white; this colour at the anterior spots carried as streaks inwards for a short distance. Underside: an in the male. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen also similar.
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
found in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
that belongs to the Lycaenids or Blues
Lycaenidae
The Lycaenidae are the second-largest family of butterflies, with about 6000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies...
family.
Description
Male upperside : shining purplish-black. Fore wing: costa narrowly and evenly for throe-fourths of its length from base, apex broadly and terminal margin decreasingly jet-black; cilia black. Hind wing: costa and apex broadly, termen narrowly, bordered with black; a subterminal series of small round black spots that merge anteriorly into the black at apex j cilia black, tipped with white. Underside: opaque chalk-white. Fore wing: the following black markings:—a broad short bar on the discocellulars; a discal transverse series of prominent spots in interspaces 1 to 6, the spot in interspace 1 elongate, in 2 and 3 oval and placed obliquely on the wing, in 4 elongate and pointing obliquely outwards, in 5 and 6 rounded, the spot in interspace 6 shifted a little inwards; beyond these discal markings is a transverse series of slender black lunules, followed by a subterminal series of minute round black spots, one in each interspace and a very slender anti-ciliary black line; cilia on the underside white. Hind wing: also with the following black markings:—a minute spot at base, followed by two larger spots one above the other, a sinuous short line oil the discocellulars, and just beyond it a transverse somewhat curved series of four slightly quadrate spots, two subcostal and two posterior; a discal series ot four more spots, the lowest one curved, the next spot round, the next elongate and placed pointing obliquely outwards, lastly the apical spot of the series round; terminal markings and cilia as on the fore wing. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen black, the antenna ringed with white and a white line along the inner and outer orbits of the eyes ; beneath: the palpi, thorax and abdomen white.Female Upperside: brownish black. Fore wing: from base for a little more than two-thirds of its length and from the posterior half of the discoidal cell to the dorsum white, beautifully glossed with purplish blue at the upper outer corner of the area indicated above, which is pure white. Hind wing: glossed with blue over a broad central area from base to a broad brownish-black terminal border, on the inner margin of which and partially coalescing with it is a transverse series of large round jet-black spots, inwardly narrowly and obscurely margined with bluish white; this colour at the anterior spots carried as streaks inwards for a short distance. Underside: an in the male. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen also similar.
See also
- LycaenidaeLycaenidaeThe Lycaenidae are the second-largest family of butterflies, with about 6000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies...
- List of butterflies of India
- List of butterflies of India (Lycaenidae)