The Orchid Tit, Chliaria othona is a species of lycaenid

Lycaenidae

The Lycaenidae are the second-largest family of butterflies, with about 6000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies...

 or blue butterfly found in Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

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Description

See glossary

Glossary of Lepidopteran terms

This glossary describes the terms used in the formal descriptions of insect species, jargon used mostly by professionals or entomologist....

 for terms used

The Orchid Tit is a small butterfly which has a wingspan of 24 to 27 mm. The butterfly has two tails, one is 4 mm long at v1 and the other 2 mm long at v2.

UP:

Male: The butterfly is pale blue above with three-fifths of the apex black. The apex and the costa of the HW are more narrowly black.

Female: The female butterfly is brown in colour above with whitish lower part of the disc. The tornal area of the HW is very pale blue with serrated black markings.

UN: Both sexes are white below with black-edged brown markings and bars at end cell. The FW has a discal band which is broken around v4 and which is broader above the break. There is a prominent black costal spot above the mid-cell. The HW also has a discal band broken in 4 and 6 with a prominent black spot towards the base of 7.The butterfly also has prominent orange-crowned tornal spots.

Distribution

The Orchid Tit is found in 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...

, Myanmar

Myanmar

Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, Laos

Laos

Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...

, North Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...

, Peninsular Malaysia

Peninsular Malaysia

Peninsular Malaysia , also known as West Malaysia , is the part of Malaysia which lies on the Malay Peninsula. Its area is . It shares a land border with Thailand in the north. To the south is the island of Singapore. Across the Strait of Malacca to the west lies the island of Sumatra...

, Pulau Tioman and possibly Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

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In Inda the butterfly is found in the Western Ghats

Western 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...

, the Himalayas from Garhwal

Garhwal Division

Garhwal is the north-western region and administrative division of the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand which is home to the Garhwali people. Lying in the Himalayas, It is bounded on the north by Tibet, on the east by Kumaon region, on the south by Uttar Pradesh state, and on the north-west by...

  to Assam

Assam

Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...

, Bengal

Bengal

Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...

 and onto Myanmar

Myanmar

Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....

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In Sikkim, the Orchid Tit is found up to an altitude of 5000 ft.

Habits

The Orchid Tit is to be found in dense, rainy jungles. It is rarely seen except around its foodplants - the flower buds of epiphytic orchids. It flies weakly and settlles on flowers, leaves. It visits damp patches.

Life cycle

Caterpillar - Green onisciform larvae with red dorsal band and three red rippled lines on each side. The caterpillar's head is concealed and its body is covered with minute bristles. Distinct short protuberances extend from the anal segment. It feeds on the flowers of the orchid.

Pupa - Smooth and greenish-grey, resembles those of other Lycaenidae spp. It has a few white markings, with a distinctly wavy pattern on the wing covers. It is found fastened along the stem of the orchids.

Larval food plants - The Orchid Tit's larval host plants are from the family Orchidaceae

Orchidaceae

The Orchidaceae, commonly referred to as the orchid family, is a morphologically diverse and widespread family of monocots in the order Asparagales. Along with the Asteraceae, it is one of the two largest families of flowering plants, with between 21,950 and 26,049 currently accepted species,...

from genus Arundina, Dendrobium

Dendrobium

Dendrobium is a huge genus of orchids. It was established by Olof Swartz in 1799 and today contains about 1,200 species. The genus occurs in diverse habitats throughout much of south, east and southeast Asia, including the Philippines, Borneo, Australia, New Guinea, Solomon Islands and New Zealand...

, Papilionanthe

Papilionanthe

Papilionanthe is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family, Orchidaceae.- References :*Pridgeon, A.M., Cribb, P.J., Chase, M.A. & Rasmussen, F. eds. . Genera Orchidacearum 1. Oxford Univ. Press....

, Phaius

Phaius

Phaius is a genus of large, mostly terrestrial orchids . The genus has about 20 species. These species are found in tropical Asia, into China, Japan, Australia, and west to Africa and Madagascar...

, Phalaenopsis

Phalaenopsis

Phalaenopsis Blume , abbreviated Phal in the horticultural trade, is an orchid genus of approximately 60 species. Phalaenopsis is one of the most popular orchids in the trade, through the development of many artificial hybrids....

, Spathoglottis

Spathoglottis

Spathoglottis is a genus of orchids . This genus is allied to genera Acanthephippium, Bletia, Calanthe, and Phaius. This genus is abbreviated Spa in trade journals. The genus Paxtonia Lindl...

and the specific species are Papilionanthe subulata and Spathoglottis plicata

Spathoglottis plicata

Spathoglottis plicata or Large Purple Orchid is a species of terrestrial orchid found from tropical and subtropical Asia to the western Pacific including Tonga and Samoa....