''Aporia nabellica'', the dusky blackvein, is a mid-sized to large

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

of the family

Pieridae The Pieridae are a large family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing about 1,100 species, mostly from tropical Africa and tropical Asia with some varieties in the more northern regions of North America and Eurasia.DeVries P. J. in Levi ...

, that is, the yellows and whites, which is found in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

in the western Himalayas: Kashmir to

Naini Tal Nainital (Kumaoni language, Kumaoni: ''Naintāl''; ) is a city and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the Uttarakhand High Court, High Court of the state being ...

from . It has a wingspan of 6 to 7 cm.

Description

Males and females have the upperside white, with the veins more or less black, but the ground colour in many specimens are so densely overlaid by black scales over nearly the whole surface of both forewings and hindwings as to leave only a subterminal series of more or less rectangular spots of the white ground colour apparent on each wing, those on the hindwing are the largest and are inwardly acutely emarginate. In addition, there is a large ill-defined black patch on the discocellulars of the forewing and a small spot of the same colour generally on the discocellulars of the hindwing. Cilia of both wings black. In nearly all specimens the discoidal cells of the wings are greyish, and on the forewing there are anterior discal, elongate, greyish spots beyond the apex of the discoidal cell. A few specimens, generally females, are much lighter in colour. In these the irroration of black scales is sparse and allows much of the white ground colour to show through; the discocellulars of the forewing, however, are marked by a large black patch as in the darker individuals; and both forewings and hindwings bear postdiscal, irregular, transverse black bands; that on the forewing bisinuate, sometimes not extended below vein 2; that on the hindwing not reaching the dorsal margin, curved, and formed of somewhat ill-defined, irregular, conjoined, outwardly acute, arrow-shaped black spots. Underside: white, the veins on both wings very broadly black edged; apex of forewing very slightly, the whole surface of the hindwing more strongly suffused with yellow; the forewing sometimes clouded posteriorly with black scaling; both forewing and hindwings with postdiscal transverse black bands as on the upperside but broader; the base of the hindwing above vein 8 chrome yellow. Antennae black, the club ochraceous at apex; head and thorax clothed with fine dusky greyish-black hairs; abdomen black above, beneath greyish white.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4780546 Aporia (butterfly) Butterflies described in 1836 Butterflies of Asia Taxa named by Jean Baptiste Boisduval

Description

See also

References