Athyma ranga
Encyclopedia
The Blackvein Sergeant is a species of nymphalid
butterfly found in Southwest India
and parts of Southeast Asia
.
Upperside: Male velvety black, female very dark brown, suffused with bluish in certain lights.
Fore wing: A medial anterior and a preapical larger whitish spot in cell; posteriorly in the cell, beyond its apex and below it at base of interspace 1, some dull obscure blue spots; a discal series of white spots, three elongate placed obliquely from just beyond middle of costa
, two more inwards in interspaces 2 and 3, one in middle of interspaces 1 a and 1; the spot in interspace 2 very large truncate exteriorly, the spot in interspace 3 elongate. Beyond these spots an inner and an outer subterminal line of transverse white marks irrorated more or less with blackish scales.
Hind wing: a subbasal broad transverse macular white band, the anterior spots that compose it more widely separated than the others, a postdiscal series of white-spots, irrorated with black scales, and a subterminal line of short detached narrow transverse pale marks in the interspaces; cilia on fore and hind wings black alternated with white.
Underside very dark brown, shaded and blotched with black between the white markings; these latter as on the upperside, but all pure white, much larger, much more clearly defined ; dorsal margin of hind wing broadly pale blue.
Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen black ; the thorax anteriorly obscurely glossed with blue; the abdomen with a series of lateral white spots on each side from base ; body beneath white, glossed on thorax with pale blue; eyes hairy.
The dry-season form has the ground-colour above dark brown in both sexes and the markings broader and sullied white ; on the underside the ground-colour is distinctly ochraceous brown.
and the Nilgiris
.
)
Nymphalidae
The Nymphalidae is a family of about 5,000 species of butterflies which are distributed throughout most of the world. These are usually medium sized to large butterflies. Most species have a reduced pair of forelegs and many hold their colourful wings flat when resting. They are also called...
butterfly found in Southwest India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and parts of Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
.
Description
- See glossaryGlossary of Lepidopteran termsThis glossary describes the terms used in the formal descriptions of insect species, jargon used mostly by professionals or entomologist....
for terminology used
Upperside: Male velvety black, female very dark brown, suffused with bluish in certain lights.
Fore wing: A medial anterior and a preapical larger whitish spot in cell; posteriorly in the cell, beyond its apex and below it at base of interspace 1, some dull obscure blue spots; a discal series of white spots, three elongate placed obliquely from just beyond middle of costa
Glossary of Lepidopteran terms
This glossary describes the terms used in the formal descriptions of insect species, jargon used mostly by professionals or entomologist....
, two more inwards in interspaces 2 and 3, one in middle of interspaces 1 a and 1; the spot in interspace 2 very large truncate exteriorly, the spot in interspace 3 elongate. Beyond these spots an inner and an outer subterminal line of transverse white marks irrorated more or less with blackish scales.
Hind wing: a subbasal broad transverse macular white band, the anterior spots that compose it more widely separated than the others, a postdiscal series of white-spots, irrorated with black scales, and a subterminal line of short detached narrow transverse pale marks in the interspaces; cilia on fore and hind wings black alternated with white.
Underside very dark brown, shaded and blotched with black between the white markings; these latter as on the upperside, but all pure white, much larger, much more clearly defined ; dorsal margin of hind wing broadly pale blue.
Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen black ; the thorax anteriorly obscurely glossed with blue; the abdomen with a series of lateral white spots on each side from base ; body beneath white, glossed on thorax with pale blue; eyes hairy.
The dry-season form has the ground-colour above dark brown in both sexes and the markings broader and sullied white ; on the underside the ground-colour is distinctly ochraceous brown.
Distribution
Sikkim; Bhutan ; hills of Assam, Burma and Tenasserim. Found also in Southern India, Western GhatsWestern Ghats
The Western Ghats, Western Ghauts or the Sahyādri is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats block rainfall to the Deccan...
and the Nilgiris
Nilgiris (mountains)
The Nilgiri , often referred to as the Nilgiri Hills, are a range of mountains with at least 24 peaks above , in the westernmost part of Tamil Nadu state at the junction of Karnataka and Kerala states in Southern India...
.
Larva
"In form the larva was exactly similar to that of Limenitis (Moduza) procris . . . .; in colour it was green, with a whitish band round the 9th segment. Its habits were also like those of L. procris, but not quite the same. It selected one of the side nerves of a leaf and ate away the soft parts on each side till the bare nerve stood out; then having barricaded the approach to this with fragments of leaf which it had contrived to cut off in feeding, mixed with excrement and silk, it rested motionless on the very point of the rib unapproachable by ants or spiders. After the last moult it gave up these habits and rested on the upper side of a leaf, where it was conspicuous enough. We infer that the worst enemies of this species- are not birds or parasites but small spiders and predaceous insects." (Davidson & AitkenEdward Hamilton Aitken
Edward Hamilton Aitken was a civil servant in India, better known for his humorist writings on natural history in India and as a founding member of the Bombay Natural History Society...
)
Pupa
Of the most brilliant silver-colour, the segments and parts being outlined in brown. It is suspended perpendicularly ; abdominal segments slender, the thoracic region larger and expanded laterally; two long sharp horns issuing from the sides of the head and at first parallel, diverge and point laterally; on the back there are two prominent processes curved towards each other, and many small points and tubercles. (Davidson & Aitken)See also
- NymphalidaeNymphalidaeThe Nymphalidae is a family of about 5,000 species of butterflies which are distributed throughout most of the world. These are usually medium sized to large butterflies. Most species have a reduced pair of forelegs and many hold their colourful wings flat when resting. They are also called...
- List of butterflies of India
- List of Butterflies of India (Nymphalidae)