''Discophora lepida'', the southern duffer,"''Discophora'' Boisduval, [1836]"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' is a butterfly">836]"">"''Discophora'' Boisduval, [1836]"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' is a butterfly found in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

and south India that belongs to the duffers group, that is, the Morphinae subfamily of the Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies family.

Description

This species resembles '' Discophora celinde'', but in the male the ground colour on the upperside is dark velvety brown without any blue reflections; the forewing is crossed pre-apically by three obliquely-placed, comparatively large, pale-blue spots with an ill-defined series of three or four much smaller subterminal spots; in the female the markings, though similar to those in the female of ''D. celinde'', are on the upperside of the forewing all pale blue, not yellow, and more numerous, larger, and better defined on the upperside of the hindwing. Underside. Male similar to that in male of ''D. celinde'', but a more or less prominent diffuse subterminal band irrorated with lilac scales crosses both forewing and hindwing. Female similar to the female of ''D. celinde'', but much paler. Wingspan 80–104 mm. Southern Duffer

Distribution

It is found in

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

and

Status

In 1957,

Mark Alexander Wynter-Blyth Mark Alexander Wynter-Blyth (occasionally unhyphenated; 15 August 1906 – 16 April 1963) was an English schoolteacher and amateur naturalist who wrote one of the first field guides to the butterflies of the Indian region. He was also involved in ...

described the species as rare.

Life cycle

Larva

"Cylindrical or slightly fusiform; bead large; anal segment furnished with two stout conical processes widely separated, but scarcely divergent; colour of head greenish yellow; eyes black; body brown, with a broad pure white dorsal band flanked with conspicuous black marks, and a yellow lateral mark on segments 6 to 11; head and body clothed with long reddish or brown hair." (Davidson,

Bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...

and Aitken)

Pupa

"... head-case produced into two long conical adjoined processes, the thorax slightly convex and carinated dorsally, the wing-cases evenly expanded, abdomen strongly curved dorsally; surface finely rugose; colour semi-transparent yellowish, like a clean white bone, with the dorsal line anc the veins of: the wings marked in faint flesh-colour, loosely attached by the tail."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5281677 Amathusiini Lepidoptera of India Butterflies of Sri Lanka Taxa named by Frederic Moore Butterflies described in 1857