Celastrina melaena

Metallic hedge blue
Museum specimen. Malaya.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Genus: Celastrina
Species: C. melaena
Binomial name
Celastrina melaena
(Doherty, 1889)
Synonyms
  • Cyaniris melaena Doherty, 1889
  • Callenya melaena (Doherty, 1889)
  • Lycaenopsis melaena (Doherty, 1889)
  • Cyaniris melaenoides Tytler, 1915
  • Lycaenopsis minima Evans, 1932

Celastrina melaena, the metallic hedge blue, [1] is a small butterfly found in India[2] that belongs to the Lycaenids or blues family.

Description

Male upperside: deep brown. Fore wing: with the basal half dark blue, dull in certain lights, rich, shining and iridescent in others; this colour does not reach the costa, apex or termen where the ground-colour forms a broad border to the blue. Hind wing: uniform brown; in certain lights iridescent blue over the basal third, but the blue does not reach either the costa or the dorsum. Underside; dull greyish-white. Fore wing: with the following fuscous-brown markings:—a short transverse line on the discoccllulars; a postdiscal transverse series of elongate spots or extremely short bars, the posterior three placed slightly m echelon, the one nearest the costa shifted well inwards; beyond this a transverse unbroken line, a subterminal series of small spots and an anticiliary dark line; costal margin somewhat broadly shaded with very pale brownish-grey. Hind wing: a minute spot on dorsum near base of wing, a series of three subbasal spots placed obliquely across the wing and beyond them a much larger round subcostal spot in interspace 7, black; a short dusky brown line on the discocellulars, a brown spot above it in base of interspace 6; a transverse posterior discal series of five spots also brown, the upper four in a slight curve, the lowest shifted outwards out of lino with the others; lastly, terminal transverse markings muoh as on the fore wing, only the fuscous brown Hue on the inner side of the subterminal series of spots replaced by a series of connected slender lunules. Cilia of fore and hind wings grey. Antenna), head, thorax and abdomen dark brown, the antennco ringed with white; beneath: palpi, thorax and abdomen greyish white.[3]

Taxonomy

The butterfly was earlier known as Lycaenopsis melaena (Rhe Phil).[2]

Range

It is found from Assam to Manipur in India.[2] and in Sumatra, Malaya, Indo-China, Burma, Thailand and Laos.

Subspecies

Cited references

  1. Card for melaena in LepIndex. Accessed 14 October 2006.
  2. 1 2 3 Evans,W.H.(1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies, ser no H21.7, pp 221-226
  3. Bingham, C. T. 1907. Fauna of British India. Butterflies. Volume 2

See also

References

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