Albulina omphisa

Dusky green underwing
Male upperside on left, underside right
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Genus: Albulina
Species: A. omphisa
Binomial name
Albulina omphisa
Moore, 1875

Albulina omphisa, the dusky green underwing,[1] is a species of blue (Lycaenidae) butterfly found in Asia.

Description

For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

Male has the uppersides of wings dark brown. Forewings and hindwings are overlaid from base outwards for some distance with purplish blue, clear dark blue or shining metallic green. The extent of this colour very variable; in some specimens, on the forewing it spreads irregularly outwards mainly along the costa and on the hindwing in the middle to the disc; in others, it covers the basal three-fourths of the wings, leaving a well-defined broad terminal margin of the ground colour on the forewing, and on the hindwing, broad costal, terminal and dorsal margins; cilia conspicuously white.

Underside of forewing is a clear, slightly brownish grey, paler along the costal and terminal margins; a transverse, slightly lunular discocellular spot and a transverse series of six small discal spots black, all with slender white edgings, the discal series placed in a slight curve, the posterior three spots en echelon; no terminal markings except an anticiliary dark line. Hindwing metallic green; in many specimens faint traces of one or two subbasal spots, entirely absent in others; a discocellular spot and a curved, transverse, discal series of from three to five spots, white; terminal markings, with the exception of a slender anticiliary dark line, absent, as on the forewing.

Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen brownish black, the shafts of the antennae ringed with white, the head, thorax and abdomen with some bluish pubescence; beneath: the palpi, thorax and abdomen white, the palpi fringed anteriorly with stiff black hairs.

Female has the upperside uniform brown. Forewings and hindwings with slender, black, anticiliary lines and conspicuous snow-white cilia. Many specimens have some slight irroration (sprinkling) of blue scales at the bases of the wings. Underside similar to that of the male, the black spots on the forewing and the white spots on the hindwing generally larger, and on the latter wing more clearly defined.[2]

Wingspan of 26–33 mm.

Range

The butterfly occurs in India (Lahul), northern Pakistan, in the Himalayas (Chitral, Ladakh), and north to China.[1]

Taxonomy

Albulina omphisa was earlier and is still sometimes classified as Polyommatus omphisa.[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Albulina at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and some other life forms
  2. ↑ Bingham, C.T. (1907). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. II (1st ed.). London: Taylor and Francis, Ltd.
  3. ↑ Card for omphisa in LepIndex. Accessed 31 December 2006.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/13/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.