Elymnias Caudata
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''Elymnias caudata'',"''Elymnias caudata'' Butler, 1871"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''
the tailed palmfly, is a species of satyrine butterfly 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 ...
. Some authors consider this as a
subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
of ''
Elymnias hypermnestra ''Elymnias hypermnestra'', the common palmfly, is a species of satyrine butterfly found in South and Southeast Asia. Description As in some other species in the genus ''Elymnias'', the common palmfly has a precostal cell in the hindwings and a ...
''.


Description

This butterfly species are sexually dimorphic: males and females do not look alike. Males have black upperside forewings with small blue patches and mimic ''
Euploea ''Euploea'' is a genus of milkweed butterflies. The species are generally dark in coloration, often quite blackish, for which reason they are commonly called crows. As usual for their subfamily, they are poisonous due to feeding on milkweeds a ...
'' species, while the females
mimic In evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. In the simples ...
butterfly species of the genus ''
Danaus In Greek mythology, Danaus (, ; ''Danaós'') was the king of Libya. His myth is a foundation legend of Argos, one of the foremost Mycenaean cities of the Peloponnesus. In Homer's ''Iliad'', " Danaans" ("tribe of Danaus") and " Argives" comm ...
''. Both sexes have the wings longer, proportionately to their breadth, and the tail at apex of vein 4 on the hindwing longer compared to ''
Elymnias hypermnestra ''Elymnias hypermnestra'', the common palmfly, is a species of satyrine butterfly found in South and Southeast Asia. Description As in some other species in the genus ''Elymnias'', the common palmfly has a precostal cell in the hindwings and a ...
''.
Upperside: Male differs from ''E. hypermnestra'' as follows: the subterminal and preapical spots on the forewing white suffused slightly with dark scales; the terminal half of the hindwing tawny, more or less suffused with dusky black, which in some specimens forms a distinct border along the termen. Female similar to the female of ''E. hypermnestra'', but the black more extended; veins 2, 3, and 4 on the hindwing broadly bordered with black.
Underside: Female differs from ''E. hypermnestra'' in the more conspicuous broadly triangular white pre-apical patch on the forewing, and in the prominence of the broad tawny terminal half of the upperside of the hindwing, which shows through a pale, sometimes pinkish brown on the underside. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen brown, paler beneath and much paler in the female than in the male.


Range

It is endemic to
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 ...
.


Life history


Food plants

* ''
Cocos nucifera The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the f ...
'' * ''
Calamus pseudotenuis Calamus may refer to: Botany and zoology * ''Calamus'' (fish), a genus of fish in the family Sparidae * ''Calamus'' (palm), a genus of rattan palms * Calamus, the hollow shaft of a feather, also known as the quill * ''Acorus calamus'', the swee ...
'' * ''
Calamus rotang ''Calamus rotang'', also known as common rattan, is a plant species native to India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar (Burma). It is one of the scandent (climbing) rattan palms used to make Malacca cane furniture, baskets, walking-sticks, umbrellas, tables ...
'' * ''
Calamus thwaitesii ''Calamus thwaitesii'' is a species of rattan palm in the family Arecaceae The Arecaceae () is a family (biology), family of perennial plant, perennial, flowering plants in the Monocotyledon, monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can b ...
'' * ''
Phoenix loureiroi ''Phoenix loureiroi'' (commonly known as the mountain date palm, vuyavuy palm, or voyavoy palm,) is a species of flowering plant in the palm family, indigenous to southern Asia, from the Philippines, Taiwan, India, southern Bhutan, Burma, Thailan ...
'' * ''
Licuala grandis ''Licuala grandis'', the ruffled fan palm, Vanuatu fan palm or Palas palm, is a species of palm tree in the family Arecaceae, native to Vanuatu, an island nation in the Pacific. It grows in the understory of primary and secondary tropical rain ...
'' * ''
Areca catechu ''Areca catechu'' is a species of palm native to the Philippines cultivated for areca nuts. It was carried widely through the tropics by the Austronesian migrations and trade since at least 1500 BCE due to its use in betel nut chewing. ...
'' * '' Arenga wightii'' * ''
Livistona chinensis ''Livistona chinensis'', the Chinese fan palm or fountain palm, is a species of subtropical palm tree of east Asia. It is native to southern Japan, Taiwan, the Ryukyu Islands, southeastern China and Hainan. In Japan, two notable populations occ ...
'' * '' Phoenix spp.'' * ''
Caryota urens ''Caryota urens'' is a species of flowering plant in the palm family, native to Sri Lanka, India, Myanmar and Malaysia (perhaps elsewhere in Indo-Malayan region), where they grow in fields and rainforest clearings, it is regarded as introduced ...
'' * ''
Phoenix loureiroi ''Phoenix loureiroi'' (commonly known as the mountain date palm, vuyavuy palm, or voyavoy palm,) is a species of flowering plant in the palm family, indigenous to southern Asia, from the Philippines, Taiwan, India, southern Bhutan, Burma, Thailan ...
'' * '' Licuala chinensis''


Larva

"Spindle-shaped, slender, transversely rugose and clothed with short stout bristles...; head large, surmounted by two stout horns, sloping backwards, slightly branched at the ends; a pair of long straight caudal spines setose like the body; colour bright green with longitudinal yellow lines more or less distinct and two rows of large yellow spots tinged with green and sometimes tipped with black on the back; head dark brown, with a yellow cheek-stripe and frontal-line."


Pupa

"Suspended by the tail only, but in a rigidly horizontal position, regular with the exception of two small pointed processes from the head and an acute thoracic projection above them; colour bright green, beautifully ornamented with four irregular rows of large yellow spots bordered with red." (Davidson & Aitken quoted by Bingham.) File:Elymnias caudata – Tailed Palmfly 07.jpg, Larva File:Elymnias caudata – Tailed Palmfly 35.jpg, Pupa File:Elymnias caudata – Tailed Palmfly 52.jpg, Male (upperside) File:Ny Palm Fly 16 September 2007 B up (1400684314).jpg, Female (upperside)


See also

*
List of butterflies of India The following is a list of the butterflies of India. India has extremely diverse terrain, climate and vegetation, which comprises extremes of heat cold, desert and jungle, of low-lying plains and the highest mountains, of dryness and dampness, is ...
* List of butterflies of Kerala


References


External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q13563593 Elymnias Butterflies of Asia Butterflies described in 1871 Taxa named by Arthur Gardiner Butler