''Pratapa deva'', the white royal, is a

lycaenid Lycaenidae is the second-largest family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of the known butterfl ...

or blue butterfly 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 Indi ...

. The species was first described by

Frederic Moore Frederic Moore FZS (13 May 1830 – 10 May 1907) was a British entomologist and illustrator. He produced six volumes of ''Lepidoptera Indica'' and a catalogue of the birds in the collection of the East India Company. It has been said that Mo ...

in 1857.

Description

Subspecies

*''P. d. deva'' southern India, Sri Lanka *''P. d. relata'' (Distant, 1884) Peninsular Malaya, Singapore *''P. d. lila'' Moore,

884 __NOTOC__ Year 884 ( DCCCLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * March 1 – Diego Rodríguez Porcelos, count of Castile, founds and repo ...

/small> northern India, Assam, Myanmar, Thailand *''P. d. devana'' H. H. Druce, 1895 northern Borneo *''P. d. devadatta'' (Fruhstorfer, 1912) southern Borneo *''P. d. cartena'' (Fruhstorfer, 1912) western Java *''P. d. methara'' (Fruhstorfer, 1912) eastern Java *''P. d. devula'' Corbet, 1942 Hong Kong *''P. d. christina'' Schröder & Treadaway, 1998 Philippines: Luzon

References

Butterflies of Singapore Fauna of Pakistan Pratapa Butterflies described in 1857 {{Theclinae-stub