Albulina omphisa
| Dusky Green Underwing | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Albulina omphisa Male upperside on left.Underside right. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Lycaenidae |
| Genus: | Albulina |
| Species: | A. omphisa |
| Binomial name | |
| Albulina omphisa Moore, 1875 | |
The Dusky Green Underwing (Albulina omphisa)[1] is a species of blue butterfly found in Asia.
Description
- See glossary for terms used
Male has the upper sides of wings dark brown. Fore and hind wings are overlaid from base outwards for some distance with purplish blue, clear dark blue or shining metallic green. The extent of this colour very variable ; in some specimens, on the fore wing it spreads irregularly outwards mainly along the costa and on the hind wing in the middle to the disc; in others, it covers the basal three-fourths of the wings, leaving a well-defined broad terminal margin of the ground-colour on the fore wing, and on the hind wing, broad costal, terminal and dorsal margins ; cilia conspicuously white.
Underside of fore wing is a clear, slightly brownish grey, paler along the costal and terminal margins ; a transverse, slightly lunular discocellular spot and a transverse series of six small discal spots black, all with slender white edgings, the discal series placed in a slight curve, the posterior three spots en echelon ; no terminal markings except an anticiliary dark line. Hind wing metallic green ; in many specimens faint traces of one or two subbasal spots, entirely absent in others ; a discocellular spot and a curved, transverse, discal series of from three to five spots, white ; terminal markings, with the exception of a slender anticiliary dark line, absent, as on the fore wing.
Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen brownish black, the shafts of the antennae ringed with white, the head, thorax and abdomen with some bluish pubescence ; beneath : the palpi, thorax and abdomen white, the palpi fringed anteriorly with stiff black hairs.
Female has the upperside uniform brown. Fore and hind wings with slender, black, anti-ciliary lines and conspicuous snow-white cilia. Many specimens have some slight irroration of blue scales at the bases of the wings. Underside similar to that of the male, the black spots on the fore and the white spots on the hind wing generally larger, and on the latter wing more clearly defined.[2]
Wing expanse of 26–33 mm.
Range
The butterfly occurs in India (Lahul), Northern Pakistan, in the Himalayas (Chitral, Ladakh), and north to China.[1]
Taxonomy
The omphisa species was earlier and is still sometimes classified as Polyommatus omphisa.[3]
See also
References
- Beccaloni, G. W., Scoble, M. J., Robinson, G. S. & Pitkin, B. (Editors). 2003. The Global Lepidoptera Names Index (LepIndex). World Wide Web electronic publication. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/lepindex.
- Evans, W.H. (1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies. (2nd Ed), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India
- Wynter-Blyth, M.A. (1957) Butterflies of the Indian Region, Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.
- 1 2 Marrku Savela's Website on Lepidoptera Page on Albulina genus.
- ↑ Bingham, C. T. 1907. Fauna of British India. Butterflies. Volume 2
- ↑ Card for omphisa in LepIndex. Accessed 31 December 2006.