Taractrocera ceramas, commonly known as the Tamil Grass Dart, is a butterfly

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...

 belonging to the family Hesperiidae. It is found from the western Ghats

Ghats

As used in many parts of South Asia, the term ghat refers to a series of steps leading down to a water body, usually a holy river. In Bengali-speaking regions, this set of stairs can lead down to something as small as a pond or as large as a major river....

 to Bombay, in the hills of southern 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 northern Burma.

In India the species occurs from sea level up to heights of 1,100 meters along grassy roads on jungle-covered slopes, and above 2,000 meters, where it avoids scrub and jungle and is very fond of the sunshine.

Subspecies

• Taractrocera ceramas ceramas (southern half of India)
• Taractrocera ceramas media Evans, 1934 (southern half of India)
• Taractrocera ceramas nicevillei Watson, 1893 (southern half of India)
• Taractrocera ceramas oberthuri Elwes & Edwards, 1897 (southern half of India)
• Taractrocera ceramas atropunctata Watson, 1896 (north-eastern India, northern Burma)
• Taractrocera ceramas thelma Evans, 1934 (south-eastern China)

External links

• Phylogeny and biogeography of the genus Taractrocera Butler, 1870 (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae), an example of Southeast Asian-Australian interchange