''Pareronia ceylanica'', the dark wanderer, is a medium-sized

butterfly 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 ...

of the family

Pieridae The Pieridae are a large family (biology), family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing about 1,100 species, mostly from Afrotropical realm, tropical Africa and Indomalayan realm, tropical Asia with some varieties in the more northern ...

, that is, the yellows and whites. It is 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

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 ...

Description

The dark wanderer resembles '' Pareronia valeria'' in colour and in the disposition of the markings, but differs as follows: Male upperside: ground colour a deeper blue. Forewing: the terminal black border much broader generally, entirely without the transverse sub-terminal series of bluish-white spots; in a few specimens there are one or two of these spots present, but nothing like the series so conspicuous in ''P. valeria hippia''. Hindwing: the terminal black border very broad, narrowing slightly but distinctly towards the tornal angle. Proportionately this border is even broader than in the forewing. Underside: as in ''P. valeria''. The female closely resembles the female of ''P. valeria'', but on the upperside the outer black margins beyond the discal markings on both forewings and hindwings are proportionately much broader, the transverse subterminal series of spots that crosses the wing is further from the terminal edge. On the underside the terminal black borders are broader and darker, the subterminal series of spots on apex of the forewing and on the hindwing absent or so very thickly overlaid with the dusky brownish black of the terminal margin as to be very indistinct and blurred. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen in both sexes much as in ''P. valeria hippia''.

Range

This species lives in southern India, the Western Ghats, the southern

Andaman Islands The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago, made up of 200 islands, in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a mari ...

and

Larva

"Long, cylindrical or slightly depressed and tapering slightly from the head, which is large, to the tail which ends in two short strong spines clothed with bristles. The body is clothed with very minute hairs. Colour green, with a lateral row of conspicuous white spots from the 5th to the 12th segment and rows of smaller spots on the back. Food-plant, ''

Capparis ''Capparis'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Capparaceae. It includes 142 species of shrubs or lianas which are collectively known as caper shrubs or caperbushes. ''Capparis'' species occur over a wide range of habitat in the subtr ...

heyneana''."

Pupa

"Suspended by the tail and by a very long band ... thoracic portion bent back almost at right angles to the abdominal; head produced into a very long sharp snout; wing-cases forming a keel nearly half an inch in depth, and so thin as to be almost transparent. Colour uniform pale watery green." (Davidson & Aitken.)

Cited references

Other references