Celaenorrhinus leucocera 3708158 217693459 2008-06-07T06:02:55Z UtherSRG 33145 Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/92.4.242.23|92.4.242.23]] ([[User talk:92.4.242.23|talk]]) to last version by 92.3.36.5 {{Taxobox | name = Common Spotted Flat | status = | image = | image_width = 240px | image_caption = | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | phylum = [[Arthropod]]a | classis = [[Insect]]a | ordo = [[Lepidoptera]] | familia = [[Hesperiidae]] | subfamilia = [[Pyrginae]] | genus = ''[[Celaenorrhinus]]'' | species = '''''C. leucocera''''' | binomial = ''Celaenorrhinus leucocera'' | binomial_authority = ([[Kollar]], 1848)<ref name="LepIndex Celaenorrhinus leucocera">Card for [http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-curation/projects/lepindex/detail.dsml?TaxonNo=182121.0&UserID=&UserName=&&listPageURL=list%2edsml%3fsort%3dSCIENTIFIC%255fNAME%255fon%255fcard%26SCIENTIFIC%5fNAME%5fon%5fcardqtype%3dstarts%2bwith%26SCIENTIFIC%5fNAME%5fon%5fcard%3dleucocera%26recLimit%3d30&searchPageURL=index%2edsml%3fSCIENTIFIC%5fNAME%5fon%5fcardqtype%3dstarts%2bwith%26sort%3dSCIENTIFIC%255fNAME%255fon%255fcard%26SCIENTIFIC%5fNAME%5fon%5fcard%3dleucocera%26recLimit%3d30 '''''Celaenorrhinus leucocera'''''] in LepIndex. Accessed 12 October 2007.</ref> | synonyms = | range_map = | range_map_width = 250px | range_map_caption = }} '''''Celaenorrhinus leucocera''''',<ref name="Savela Celaenorrhinus">Marrku Savela's Website on Lepidoptera. Page on genus [http://www.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/hesperioidea/hesperiidae/pyrginae/celaenorrhinus/index.html ''Celaenorrhinus''].</ref> commonly known as the '''Common Spotted Flat''', is a [[butterfly]] belonging to the family [[Hesperiidae]]. It is a common butterfly generally found in the wet forested hills of southern Asia, from [[India]] and the [[Himalayas]] east through [[Indo-China]]. The upper surfaces of the wings are dark brown with white bands and small white spots towards the tip of the wings. ==Range== The skipper is found in [[Myanmar]], [[Thailand]], Western [[China]], [[Malayasia]] and the [[Indonesia]]n archipelago ([[Borneo]], [[Sumatra]], [[Java]] and [[Bali]]).<ref name="Savela Celaenorrhinus"/><ref name="Evans"/> The butterfly occurs in [[India]] wherever its preferred forest habitat - moist deciduous, semi-evergreen and secondary evergreen forests with a basically natural, varied herb and shrub vegetation<ref name="Kunte">Kunte, Krushnamegh. (2000) Butterflies of Peninsular India, ser no 64, pp 196-198.</ref> - is present. It ranges from [[South India]] through [[Maharashtra]] to [[Bengal]], and along the [[Himalayas]] from [[Kashmir]] to [[Assam]] and [[Arunachal Pradesh]] ([[Mishmi]] hills); and also the [[Andaman islands]].<ref name="Savela Celaenorrhinus"/><ref name="Evans">Evans,W.H.(1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies, ser no I11.16, pp 326.</ref> It flies from plains level to 8000 ft in the [[Himalayas]].<ref name="Wynter-Blyth">Wynter-Blyth, M.A. (1957). Butterflies of the Indian Region, pg 459-460.</ref> It inhabits The type locality of this species is the [[Himalayas]].<ref name="LepIndex Celaenorrhinus leucocera"/><ref name="Savela Celaenorrhinus"/> ==Status== Common. It is the commonest of all ''Celaenorrhinus'' species occurring in [[India]].<ref name="Evans"/><ref name="Wynter-Blyth"/> The best period to see the Common Spotted Flat is during the rainy season and months immediately after. The population decreases as winter and summer progresses and rises once again at the next monsoon.<ref name="Kunte">Kunte, Krushnamegh. (2000) Butterflies of Peninsular India, ser no 45, pp 148-149.</ref> ==Description== :''For a key to the terms used see the [[glossary of Lepidopteran terms]].'' The butterfly has a wingspan of 45 to 55 mm. It is dark-brown above. The fore-wing has a band of more or less connected discal spots, which are white and semi-transparent. Of this band, two spots, i.e. the one in end cell, and that at 2; are rectangular and connected to more or less degree. The butterfly also has small white spots in the apex of the forewing. The hindwing has a few obscure, opaque yellow spots.<ref name="Wynter-Blyth"/> The hindwing margins are chequered black and white.<ref name="Kunte"/> The male has plain white antenna shafts, while the female has plain brown shafts with white clubs.<ref name="Wynter-Blyth"/> It is a very variable species.<ref name="Wynter-Blyth"/> ====Detailed desription==== Watson (1891) gives a detailed description, shown below:<ref name=watson>Watson, E. Y. (1891) Hesperiidae indicae. Vest and Co. Madras.</ref> {{quote|All wings dark brown ; some spots and a minute dot in the middle of the forewing, a small crescent at the apex, all transparent snow-white ; on the upper surface of the hindwing four spots, on the under surface a larger number irregularly placed and yellowish, the borders white, interspersed with dusky. Of median size, hindwing rounded at the outer margin, not elongated, the colour of all the wings above and below dark brown. In the middle of the forewing are three snow-white transparent almost quadrangular spots of which the hind one is the smallest, there is also a dot near the middle spot. Near the apex a crescent-shaped spot. On the hindwing several small yellow spots irregularly arranged ; four on the upperside more or less obsolete, and seven on the underside almost punctiform, the outer five in acurved row near the outer margin. The fringe of the forewing brown with several whitish spots, on the hindwing alternately yellowish-white and brown. Head and body brown and hairy, the palpi yellowish- white clothed with brown hairs above ; two yellow spots at the nape. Club of the antennae snow-white, below brown.|E. Y. Watson}} ==Habits== The Common Spotted Flat flies in the wet jungles of the peninsula and the Himalayas.<ref name="Wynter-Blyth"/> It is a shade-loving insect, rarely venturing out of the forest, except early in the morning, late in the evening or when it is overcast. <ref name="Wynter-Blyth"/> It visits flowers and rests on the undersides of leaves.<ref name="Wynter-Blyth"/> Its long proboscis permits it to feed from flowers having long tubular corollas. It visits [[Impatiens]], [[Asystasia]], [[Blepharis]], [[Peristrophe]], [[Crossandra]] and other acanthaceaous shrubs and herbs which are abundant in the dappled environs of the forest edge where this butterfly is most likely to be found. The butterfly can also be spotted mud-puddling occasionally.<ref name="Kunte"/> When active, the Common Spotted Flat alternates between sun and shade, flying in the open patches for a while and resting a while when in the shade. As it is a wary butterfly which rarely settles on the top of bushes, resting instead mostly on the undersides of leaves, it is difficult to get a good look at the Common Spotted Flat in the field. Its fast, zig-zagging flight also makes it difficult to track while in the air. It flies fast and low, usually below 6 feet, and aggressively defends its territory from other butterflies. When disturb, it buzzes in circles around before settling down, near to where it was perched before.<ref name="Kunte"/> This species, like others of its group, is distinguished by its habit of keeping its wings spread flat, which behaviour gives these butterflies their name.<ref name="Kunte"/> ==Life cycle== ====Eggs==== The egg of the Common Spotted Flat is green, dome-shaped, glossy and having many small longitudinal ridges with smooth surfaces in between. The egg is laid on the young leaves of plants in shady places , both above and below the leaf-surface. The eggshell forms the first meal of the newly-hatched caterpillar.<ref name="Kunte"/> ====Caterpillars==== After eating the eggshell, the first instar caterpillar constructs a cell from a triangular piece of leaf which it folds over the upper surface of the leaf. It lines the inside with silk. Here, the caterpillar resides till it outgrows the cell, whereupon it proceeds to construct a larger one, purse shaped using two leaves where it rests with head turned on the side. If disturbed, the caterpillar raises its front over the back with legs out stretched and jaws open.<ref name="Kunte"/> The caterpillar is dark olive green with a dorsal wavy line of deeper tinge. It has a paler colured band running along the spiracles throughout the length of the body. The legs and underside of the caterpillar are pale-green. The skin is dull, transparent and is covered with minute whitish hairs. Its heart-shaped head is glossy, dark with a rufous tinge, and having a flat base below.<ref name="Kunte"/> ====Pupa==== The caterpillar pupates in a cell, sometimes on fresh leaves, at other times on dead leaves or even in the leaf-litter. The pale reddish-golden pupa is cylindrical, widest at the thorax, tapering quickly towards the head and gently towards the rear. The head has a small rounded protuberance.The pupa is firmly fixed to the silk-pad. ====Host plants==== The food-plants are mostly common acanthaceous shrubs from semi-evergreen, deciduous and secondary evergreen forests.<ref name="Kunte"/> The caterpillars have been recorded on ''[[Asystasia gangetica]]'', ''[[Ecbolium linguistrinum]]'', ''[[Eranthemum roseum]]'', ''[[Nilgirianthus heyneanus]]'', ''[[Nilgirianthus barbatus]]'', ''[[Carvia callosa]]'' and ''[[Thelepaepale ixiocephala]]''.<ref name="Kunte"/><ref>Kunte, K. 2006. Additions to the known larval host plants of Indian butterflies. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 103(1):119-121</ref> ==Cited references== <div class="references-small"> <references/> </div> ==See also== *[[Pyrginae]] *[[Hesperiidae]] *[[List of butterflies of India (Hesperiidae)]] *[[List of butterflies of India (Pyrginae)]] ==References== '''Print''' *{{aut|Evans, W.H.}} (1932) ''The Identification of Indian Butterflies''. 2nd Ed, (i to x, pp454, 9 figs, Plates I to XXXII), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India. *{{aut|Kunte, Krushnamegh}}. (2000) ''Butterflies of Peninsular India'', (i to xviii, pp254, Plates 1 to 32) Universities Press (India) Ltd, Hyderabad (reprint 2006). ISBN 81-7371-354-5. *{{aut|Wynter-Blyth, M.A.}} (1957) ''Butterflies of the Indian Region'', Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India. '''Online''' *{{aut|Beccaloni, G. W.}}, {{aut|Scoble, M. J.}}, {{aut|Robinson, G. S.}} & {{aut|Pitkin, B.}} (Editors). 2003. The Global Lepidoptera Names Index (LepIndex). World Wide Web electronic publication. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/lepindex [accessed 29 October 2007]. *{{aut|Brower, Andrew V. Z.}}, (2007). Celaenorrhinus Hübner 1819. Ancistrocampta C. Felder & R. Felder 1862 currently viewed as a subjective junior synonym. Version 04 March 2007 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Celaenorrhinus/95353/2007.03.04 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/. *{{aut|Savela, Marrku}} Website on ''Lepidoptera and some other life forms'' [http://www.nic.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/index.html] (accessed 29 October 2007). [[Category:Celaenorrhinus]] [[Category:Fauna of Southeast Asia|Common Spotted Flat]] [[Category: Fauna of Pakistan]]