The Zebra Blue or Plumbago Blue (Leptotes plinius) is a species of blue butterfly

Lycaenidae

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

 found in India.

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 terminology used

This form closely resembles in both sexes on the upperside Tarucus theophrastus

Tarucus theophrastus

The Common Tiger Blue, Pointed Pierrot or African Pierrot is a small butterfly found in the Old World tropics...

, but the character and disposition of the markings on the underside are completely different.
Male Upperside: dark violet with, in certain lights, a rich blue suffusion. Fore wing: no discocellular black spot so conspicuous in T. theophrastus; terminal margin with a narrow edging of fuscous black, widest at the apex, gradually decreasing to the tornus, followed by an inconspicuous anticiliary jet-black line. Hind wing : costal margin slightly but broadly shaded with fuscous, which is continued as a slender anticiliary black line to the tornus. Underside: white. Fore wing: with the following brownish-black markings:—an irregular edging along the costa to near the apex from which extends downwards a subbasal band, broadened across the cell and below it; an irregular band that extends along the discocellulars and below them to interspace 1 where it ends in a point; an upper discal curved band of more even width but dislocated below vein 4, the lower portion of it shifted inwards forms a large quadrate spot in interspace 3, below vein 3 the band is continued downwards by two small inconspicuous spots, beyond this is a very short acutely-pointed comma-shaped mark; a very regular evenly curved complete transverse lunular line, a transverse series of subterminal spots and an anticiliary slender line. Close to the base of the wing extended obliquely upwards and outwards from the dorsum is a triangular mark, the edging of white colour left near the base forms above the apex of this mark an acute angle; between the band that crosses the middle of the cell and the transverse discocellular band is a more or less slender, irregular, similarly-coloured line; and between the discocellular and upper discal bands another much shorter line that extends from the costa downwards but does not reach vein 4, this is slightly clavate anteriorly and posteriorly. Hind wing: mottled with brownish black that leaves only basal, subbasal, medial and discal transverse lines or bands of the ground-colour; the medial and discal bands, which are highly irregular, enclose here and there small brownish markings, the bands themselves coalescing above a very irregularly shaped brown mark that is placed on the posterior half of the middle of the wing; terminal markings as on the fore wing but the subterminal spots larger, the apical one especially so, the tornal two spots jet-black and each encircled by a glittering slender ring of metallic green scales. Cilia of both fore and hind wings, the antennae, head, thorax and abdomen much as in T. theophrastus.

Female. Upperside very closely resembles that of female T. theophrastus, but the extent of white on the fore wing is greater so that there is a greater area of white to be seen between the brown markings superposed on it, these markings have the appearance of an irregularly formed V on a white background. Hind wing much as in T. theophrastus. Underside: similar to that of its own male but the brown bands less broken, more regular. Cilia, antennae, head, thorax and abdomen as in the male.

Ethiopian region in part. N.W. Himalayas to Kumaon

Kumaon Division

For Kumaoni/Kumauni People see Kumauni PeopleKumaon or Kumaun is one of the two regions and administrative divisions of Uttarakhand, a mountainous state of northern India, the other being Garhwal. It includes the districts of Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat, Nainital, Pithoragarh, and Udham Singh Nagar...

; the plains of Northern India; Central and Western India; 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...

; 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...

 ; 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....

; Tenasserim in the low hot valleys of the north; extending to China and in the Malayan Subregion to Java.

The description given above is taken from males and females of wet-season broods. Specimens of the dry-season broods are paler on the upperside with, in the male only anticiliary black lines to the wings. On the underside the markings on the wings will, on careful examination, be found very similar but paler brown and all very much reduced in width so that a greater extent of the white ground-colour is visible.

Foodplants

Plants of the Legume family, Plumbaginaceae

Plumbaginaceae

Plumbaginaceae is a family of flowering plants, with a cosmopolitan distribution. The family is sometimes referred to as the leadwort family or the plumbago family....

 and some of the citrus family Rutaceae

Rutaceae

Rutaceae, commonly known as the rue or citrus family, is a family of flowering plants, usually placed in the order Sapindales.Species of the family generally have flowers that divide into four or five parts, usually with strong scents...

. Species include Glycine tomentella, Dyerophytum indicum, Indigofera suffruticosa, Lablab purpureus, Plumbago zeylanica

Plumbago zeylanica

Plumbago zeylanica, commonly known as Ceylon Leadwort or Doctorbush, is a species of plumbago with a pantropical distribution. Carl Linnaeus described the paleotropical P. zeylanica and neotropical P. scandens as separate species, but they are currently considered synonymous...

, Rhynchosia tomentosa, Sesbania bispinosa

Sesbania bispinosa

The legume Sesbania bispinosa, also known as Sesbania aculeata Pers., is a small tree in the genus Sesbania.The flower is the provincial flower of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province, Thailand.-Names:...

, Tephrosia obovata, Ziziphus mauritiana

Ziziphus mauritiana

Ziziphus mauritiana, also known as Jujube, Chinee Apple, Indian plum, and permseret , is a tropical fruit tree species belonging to the family Rhamnaceae....

, Indigofera argentea, Indigofera erecta, Medicago sativa and Toddalia asiatica.

Larva

"Pale greenish yellow above, sides lilacine, a narrow brownish median line, followed by eight diagonal short streaks and six brownish-red spots. Before pupating the colouring gets much more diffused. Feeds among the flower-buds of Plumbago."

Pupa

"Dull yellowish profusely mottled with brown spots." (E E Green as quoted by de Niceville.)

Subspecies

• Leptotes plinius hyrcanus (Felder, 1860)
• Leptotes plinius juvenal (Fruhstorfer, 1922)
• Leptotes plinius leopardus (Schultze, 1910)
• Leptotes plinius lybas (Godart, [1824])
• Leptotes plinius manusi (Rothschild, 1915)
• Leptotes plinius pseudocassius (Murray, 1873)

Other references

• Evans, W.H. (1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies. (2nd Ed), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India
• Gaonkar, Harish (1996) Butterflies of the Western Ghats, India (including Sri Lanka) - A Biodiversity Assessment of a threatened mountain system. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society.
• Gay,Thomas; Kehimkar,Isaac & Punetha,J.C.(1992) Common Butterflies of India. WWF-India and Oxford University Press, Mumbai, India.
• Haribal, Meena (1994) Butterflies of Sikkim Himalaya and their Natural History.
• Kunte,Krushnamegh (2005) Butterflies of Peninsular India. Universities Press.
• Wynter-Blyth, M.A. (1957) Butterflies of the Indian Region, Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.

External links

• Asahi Correctly determined photos of L. plinius from the Philippines
  Philippines
  The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...