''Caleta roxus'', the straight Pierrot, is a small

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 ...

that belongs to the lycaenids or blues family. It is found in

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 ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

Description

Male has the upperside black with an oblique medial white band on the forewings and hindwings. The band extends from above vein 5 on the forewing and the dorsum of the hindwing. On the forewing it is extended outwards slightly above vein 3, the apex of this extension square. Underside: white suffused slightly with pale yellow, with the following black markings: a comparatively broad, even, straight band across the base of the hindwing which is continued obliquely on to and across the forewing to the middle of the costa, there it is joined by a narrow edging on the costal margin to an irregular, upper, discal, outwardly oblique, short transverse bar which is broadest on the costa; posteriorly in a line with this bar is a small, transversely elongate, oval spot in interspace 3 and below ''en echelon'' with the latter two larger coalescent spots, one above the other, in interspaces 1 and 2; terminal margin with an even transverse band, its inner edge slightly crenulate (scalloped), medially traversed by a series of minute linear white spots. Hindwing: a transverse, discal, very irregular band widely interrupted in the middle; two coalescent spots beyond transversely across interspaces 4 and 5, followed by a subterminal, complete, curved series of distinct lunules that are edged slenderly on the outer side with white, and a prominent anteciliary white line. Cilia of both forewings and hindwings brown; filamentous short tail to latter black tipped with white. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen black, the abdomen barred with white on the sides; beneath: the palpi, thorax and abdomen medially white. Female closely resembles the male, but on the upperside, the medial, broad, oblique white band that crosses the wings is distinctly broader and on the forewing extends farther towards the costa in a point, while on the hindwing there is in addition, in many specimens, a subterminal complete transverse series of linear white dots. On the underside the black markings are broader; on the forewing the upper discal short oblique black bar is produced to and coalesces with the black spot in interspace 3; on the hindwing the discal transverse black band is very irregular but nearly continuous by the junction of its upper portion with the spots in interspaces 4 and 5; terminal markings on both wings as in the male. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen similar to those of the male.

Range

The butterfly occurs in India from

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

and across to

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

and

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...

. It occurs right across

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia, historically known as Malaya and also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, is the western part of Malaysia that comprises the southern part of the Malay Peninsula on Mainland Southeast Asia and the list of isla ...

, the

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

n and

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

archipelagos right across to

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

Cited references

References

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q21248763, from2=Q7262925 Caleta (butterfly) Butterflies of Asia Butterflies described in 1824