Pycnophallium elna
| Elbowed Pierrot | |
|---|---|
 | |
| at Jairampur, Arunachal Pradesh, India | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Lycaenidae |
| Genus: | Pycnophallium |
| Species: | 'P. elna |
| Binomial name | |
| Pycnophallium elna (Hewitson 1876) | |
| Synonyms | |
The Elbowed Pierrot (Pycnophallium elna)[3] is a small butterfly found in India and Southeast Asia that belongs to the Lycaenids or Blues family.
Description
- For a key to the terms used see Lepidopteran glossary
Upperside: black; a medial broad oblique white band across both fore and hind wings broadening on the latter, on the fore wing it extends further towards the costa in the female than in the male and in most specimens, both male and female, it is slightly produced outwards above vein three.
Underside: white with the following black markings:—a broad band, broader than in any of the other forms, from base of hind wing produced obliquely across the fore wing as far as the discocellular veinlets, thence bent at right angles and extended to the costal margin; beyond this the discal markings on both fore and hind wings much as in C. roxus, but the terminal markings narrow and more or less obsolescent, the apex of the fore wing however, is more broadly black, while the subterminal line of linear white spots on the same wing and the transverse subterminal series of black lunules on the hind wing are more or less obsolescent. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen black ; beneath : the shafts of the antennae speckled with white, the palpi, thorax and abdomen with a longi-tudiual medial white line, the sides of the abdomen barred with white.[4]
Taxonomy
The butterfly is also classified as Caleta elna.[2]
Range
The butterfly occurs in India from Orissa, Sikkim to Assam Andamans[1] and onto Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Hainan, southern Yunnan. The butterfly extends southwards to Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo, Karimata, Sumatra, Bangka and Palawan.[2]
Cited references
- 1 2 Evans, W.H. (1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies. (2nd Ed), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India
- 1 2 3 Marrku Savela's Website on Lepidoptera Page on Caleta genus.
- ↑ Card for elna in LepIndex. Accessed 16 Jun 2007.
- ↑ Bingham, C. T. 1907. Fauna of British India. Butterflies. Volume 2
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.
- Bingham, C. T. (1907) Fauna of British India. Butterflies. Volume 2.
- Marrku Savela's Website on Lepidoptera .
Gallery
-
at Jayanti in Buxa Tiger Reserve in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, India.
External links
- Asahi Correctly determined photos of Caleta elna (synonym) specimens from the Philippines.