Libythea Myrrha
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Libythea myrrha'', the club beak, is a butterfly found in India that belongs to the
Libytheinae The Libytheinae are a nymphalid subfamily known as snout butterflies, containing two valid genera and about ten species: six in ''Libythea'' and four in '' Libytheana''. The common name refers to the thick labial palps (pedipalps) that look like ...
group of the brush-footed butterflies family 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

Variable in the extent and breadth of the orange-yellow markings and in the mottling and ground colour of the underside. Typically males and females have the ground colour on the upperside dark brown, with the following orange-yellow markings: Forewing: a streak from the base along the median vein extending narrowly on each side of it and continued beyond as a comparatively large oval spot in base of interspace 2; two preapical double spots placed obliquely to the costa. Hindwing uniform, with a slightly oblique narrow medial band extending from vein 1 to vein 5. Underside forewing: ground colour brown; orange-yellow markings as on the upperside, but broader, more diffuse; apex and dorsal margin broadly shaded with pale grey irrorated with minute dark spots and transverse short striae. Hindwing greyish brown irrorated (sprinkled) with minute dark spots and short transverse striae, and shaded in the cell, on the middle of the costal margin, and on the middle of the termen with diffuse brown. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen dark brown; beneath, palpi, thorax and abdomen greyish brown. The larger varieties, with very broad orange markings on both forewings and hindwings, have been separated as race ''sanguinalis''. This is chiefly a Himalayan and eastern form. Variety ''rama'' Moore is the smaller southern and Sri Lankan form, with the orange markings much narrower and restricted and the preapical double spots entirely white, or white slightly suffused with yellow. Every gradation between the two forms, however, can be found. Many specimens are identical with typical forms from Java. Wingspan of 46–58 mm. Found along the Himalayas, from Kulu to Sikkim; the Western Ghats and southern India; Sri Lanka; Assam; Myanmar; Tenasserim; the Malayan Peninsula; China.


Larva

"Colour dark green, sometimes with a brownish tinge, with a thin dorsal light yellow line from segments 4 to 12 and a narrow yellow supra-spiracular band from the head to the anal end." (
Lionel de Nicéville Charles Lionel Augustus de Nicéville (1852 in Bristol – 3 December 1901 in Calcutta from malaria) was a curator at the Indian Museum in Calcutta (now Kolkata). He studied the butterflies of the Indian Subcontinent and wrote a three volume mono ...
)


Pupa

"The front of the pupa seen from above is absolutely square, the head ending in a broad straight edge; ... thorax somewhat convex and highly carinated along the dorsal line. ...; wings slightly thickened at and behind the shoulder; ... colour light green with the tops on all the carinations yellow, with a black speck on the abdominal peak; the surface of the pupa smooth, somewhat shiny." (de Nicéville)


Habits

It is known to mud-puddle.


Food plant

''
Celtis tetrandra ''Celtis tetrandra'', called the Nilgiri elm, is a species of flowering plant in the hackberry genus ''Celtis'', family Cannabaceae Cannabaceae is a small family of flowering plants, known as the hemp family. As now circumscribed, the famil ...
'' (
Cannabaceae Cannabaceae is a small family of flowering plants, known as the hemp family. As now circumscribed, the family includes about 170 species grouped in about 11 genera, including '' Cannabis'' (hemp), '' Humulus'' (hops) and '' Celtis'' (hackberri ...
) ( de Nicéville)


See also

* List of butterflies of India * List of butterflies of India (Nymphalidae)


Notes


References

* * * * * *


External links


Sri Lanka Wild Life Information Database
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3595571 Libythea Butterflies of Sri Lanka Butterflies described in 1819 Taxa named by Jean-Baptiste Godart Butterflies of Malaysia