''Tarucus ananda'', the dark Pierrot, is a small butterfly found in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

that belongs to the lycaenids or blues family. It was formerly placed in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

Castalius ''Castalius'' is a butterfly genus in the family Lycaenidae. They are commonly known as Pierrots. This name is also often used for the very closely related genus '' Tarucus''. In fact, the delimitation of ''Castalius'' versus ''Tarucus'' is not ...

'', and with the delimitation of ''Castalius'' versus ''

Tarucus ''Tarucus'' is a butterfly genus in the family Lycaenidae. They are commonly known as blue Pierrots or simply Pierrots. The latter name is often used for the closely related genus ''Castalius''. The delimitation of ''Castalius'' versus ''Tarucus' ...

'' being not fully resolved this may well be correct. CastaliusAnandaFitch

Distribution

Peninsular and southern India up to

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

;

Sikkim Sikkim ( ; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Koshi Province of Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the ...

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

and

Khasi Hills The Khasi Hills () are a low mountain formation on the Shillong Plateau in the Meghalaya state of India. The Khasi Hills are part of the Garo-Khasi-Jaintia range and connect with the Purvanchal Range and the larger Patkai Range further east. The ...

onto

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 Dawnas;

Orissa Odisha (), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is a state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the thir ...

. In southern India the butterfly occurs in

Kanara Kanara or Canara, also known as Karāvali, is the historically significant stretch of land situated by the southwestern Konkan coast of India, alongside the Arabian Sea in the present-day Indian state of Karnataka. The subregion comprises thr ...

, Nilgiris and

Anaimalai Hills The Anamala or Anaimalai, also known as the Elephant Mountains, are a range of mountains in the southern Western Ghats of central Kerala ( Idukki district, Ernakulam district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district) and span the border of wester ...

, and possibly

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 ...

Status

William Harry Evans Brigadier William Harry Evans (born 22 July 1876 in Shillong – died 13 November 1956, Church Whitfield ) was a lepidopterist and British Army officer who served in India. He documented the butterfly fauna of India, Burma and Ceylon in a se ...

described the species as not being rare.

Description

Male

Upperside: dark purple, sometimes fuliginous, sometimes bright and shining. Forewings and hindwings: terminal margins edged with fuscous brownish black and an anteciliary jet-black line; cilia brown; tail black tipped with white. Underside: more or less dingy white. Forewing: a broad oblique brownish-black band from base to just before the middle of the costa; from the latter a dark brownish-black bar proceeds vertically down to middle of interspace 3, on the inner side of this and touching it in the middle is a large brownish-black irregular spot that extends posteriorly to vein 1; beyond this a broad discal transverse brownish-black band twice interrupted, the posterior portion slightly narrowed below is shifted obliquely inwards and ends on vein 1; this is followed by a postdiscal transverse series of brownish-black spots that anteriorly nearly coalesces with the discal band, a transverse subterminal line of similar but smaller spots and a well-marked anteciliary black line. Hindwing: a basal short, brownish-black, anteriorly attenuate bar placed obliquely, a transverse subbasal band of four large coalescent black spots, a transverse curved discal band twice broken as on the forewing and similar postdiscal subterminal and terminal markings. Antennae black, shafts ringed with white, head, thorax and abdomen dark brownish black; beneath: the palpi black, thorax and abdomen down the middle white.

Female

Upperside: fuscous black. Forewings and hindwings: in most specimens the markings of the underside show (sometimes very conspicuously) through. Underside: as in the male. Antenna, head, thorax and abdomen similar to those of the male.

Larva

"Like that of '' Castalius ananda'' feeds only on the parenchyma of the leaf .... It is of the usual woodlouse form, slightly flattened head concealed in the second segment; surface more or less rough; a fringe of long white bristles all round with an erected ridge of similar bristles along the back from the second segment; those on the 3rd and 7th segments and the last two much longer than the others; those on the 2nd segment very few, short and black. It has a conspicuous gland on the 12th segment, and is attended by small species of ants of the genus ''

Crematogaster ''Crematogaster'' is an ecologically diverse genus of ants found worldwide, which are characterised by a distinctive heart-shaped gaster (insect anatomy), gaster (abdomen), which gives them one of their common names, the Saint Valentine ant. Mem ...

''. Its colour is pale green, the dorsal portion of the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th and last two segments being dark brown, while the centre segments are almost yellow with a darker dorsal line. We found it feeding on ''

Zizyphus ''Ziziphus'' is a genus of spiny shrubs and small trees in the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae. It includes 68 species native to tropical and subtropical Africa, Eurasia, and Australia and tropical South America. The leaves are alternate, entire, ...

xylopyrus'' and also on ''

Loranthus ''Loranthus'' is a genus of parasitic plants that grow on the branches of woody trees. It belongs to the family Loranthaceae, the showy mistletoe family. In most earlier systematic treatments it contains all mistletoe species with bisexual flower ...

'', where it was attended by ''Crematogaster'' ants."

Pupa

"Of the usual ''Castalius'' form but narrow and slightly flattened. It is intensely glossy as if covered with gum. It varies in colour, being sometimes black, at others green with inconstant black markings." (Davidson, Bell & Aitken)

Food plants

Larvae feed on ''

'' and ''

''.

Ant association

''Tarucus ananda'' is associated with ''

''. File:Dark Pierrot Tarucus ananda Yeoor DSCF1393 (8).JPG

Cited references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarucus Ananda Tarucus Butterflies of Asia Butterflies described in 1884