''Apporasa'' is a genus of

butterflies Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

in the family

Lycaenidae Lycaenidae is the second-largest family (biology), family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of ...

, the blues. The genus is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

containing only ''Apporasa atkinsoni'', the crenulate oakblue. It is found in the

Indomalayan realm The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Ind ...

Description

The following description is taken from

Charles Thomas Bingham Charles Thomas Bingham (16 April 1848 – 18 October 1908) was an Irish military officer and entomologist. Bingham was born in India of an old Irish family, and he was educated in Ireland.Kirby, W.F , 1909 Obituary correction ''Entomologists mo ...

's ''Fauna of British India, Butterflies'', vol 2, (1907).

Male

Upperside, forewings and hindwings: medially and obliquely crossed by a very broad pure white band that is broadly edged on its inner and outer margins by dark blue and does not extend on the forewing above vein 6, just above vein 3 it projects outwards for a short distance whence the inner margin of its dark blue edging is carried obliquely to vein 6; the extreme bases of the wings black; the costal margin of the fore and the terminal margins of both forewings and hindwings broadly black; on both wings a light iridescent blue suffusion from base outwards. Underside: snow white. Forewings and hindwings: the following jet-black markings: Forewing: two broad more or less parallel streaks from base extended obliquely to the costa, the outer of the two apically curved and on the costa coalescent with the inner streak; costal margin very narrowly edged with black; an anterior, postdiscal, outwardly oblique, short bar, slightly clavate (club shaped) posteriorly, extends between the costa and vein 5; opposing this there is between the dorsum and vein 3 a similar but erect and apically non-clavate bar; beyond these there is an inner and outer transverse complete subterminal series of spots followed by an anteciliary slender black line; the spots of the inner subterminal series quadrate, of the outer linear, the posterior two of the former very large; lastly, a single detached postdiscal spot in interspace 3 very close to the inner subterminal line of spots. Hindwing: a curved short basal band not extended to the costa, a spot touching it in the middle on the outer side and a discal transverse band twice widely interrupted, the middle portion shifted outwards, the lower portion with a spot on its outer margin joined to it; subterminal and terminal markings as on the forewing. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen black; beneath: the palpi, thorax and abdomen with a median longitudinal white line.

Female

Upperside: similar to that of the male but the median white transverse band across both wings broader, extended on the forewing up to vein 7 and with no inner edging of blue or iridescent light blue irroration (speckling); the black at the bases of the wings and on the margins not so intense in shade, more of a brownish black. Underside: ground colour and markings very similar, the basal two oblique bands on the forewing generally farther from one another than in the male.

Larva

"The caterpillar, which feeds on young shoots of ''

Ziziphus jujuba Jujube (UK ; US or ), sometimes jujuba, scientific name ''Ziziphus jujuba'', and also called red date, Chinese date, and Chinese jujube, is a species in the genus '' Ziziphus'' in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. It is often confused wit ...

'', is of the

woodlouse Woodlice are terrestrial isopods in the suborder Oniscidea. Their name is derived from being often found in old wood, and from louse, a parasitic insect, although woodlice are neither parasitic nor insects. Woodlice evolved from marine isopods ...

form but flattened. Its texture though apparently smooth is, if looked at with a lens, found to be thickly covered with white hairs: its colour is greenish white with a faint green dorsal band." (Davidson, Bell & Aitken.) *Pupa. "Similar in shape to that of '' Castalius rosimon'', Fabricius, but smaller and narrower. It is of a bright apple-green with a darkish green line down the centre. There are some small red dots on the edges of the wing-cases." (Davidson, Bell & Aitken.)

Range

Manipur Manipur () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...

to southern

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

and

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

References