''Stibochiona nicea'', the popinjay, is a species of
nymphalid
The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have ...
butterfly found in
Asia
Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
.
Description
The male upperside is a deep velvety black. Forewing: cell with three somewhat obscure light blue transverse short lines, a curved series of four discal and of five postdiscal minute white spots anteriorly, and a complete series of subterminal similar spots, bordered inwardly by a row of paired blue marks on each side of veins 1 to 6. Hindwing: a postdiscal blue transverse sinuous line not reaching the costa or dorsum, followed by a subterminal series of blue circular marks with black centres, their rims outwardly snow white. Cilia of both forewings and hindwings are white, alternated with black on the forewing, continuous on the hindwing. Underside purplish black. Forewing: the cell-marks better defined, the discal and postdiscal series of spots sinuous, each of seven spots; the subterminal row of spots as on the upperside, but larger, the line of blue paired marks on the veins bordering the subterminal row on the inner side above absent. Hindwing: three obliquely placed subbasal spots and a transverse sinuous line of discal spots blue, followed by a series of five or six postdiscal dots and a subterminal line of transverse inwardly crescentic bars in the interspaces lilacine white.
Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen black.
Female similar, but on the upperside the ground colour dull black suffused with green, the cell-markings and the inner subterminal paired spots on the forewing and the postdiscal sinuous band on the hindwing metallic green. Underside ground colour fuliginous black, the markings as in the male but larger.
Gallery
Image:Popinjay (Stibochiona nicea) at Samsing, Duars, WB W IMG 6333.jpg, Basking at Samsing
Samsing is a small hill village and tourist spot in the Matiali (community development block), Malbazar subdivision of Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal situated at an elevation of 3000 ft in the foothills in between Jalpaiguri and Dar ...
in Darjeeling district of West Bengal
West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...
, India
See also
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Nymphalidae
The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species ha ...
*
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 India (Nymphalidae)
This is a list of the butterflies of India belonging to the family Nymphalidae and an index to the species articles. This forms part of the full List of butterflies of India.
Danainae (26 spp)
See List of butterflies of India (Danainae).
Morphi ...
References
Cyrestinae
Butterflies of Asia
{{Nymphalidae-stub