''Arhopala birmana'', the Burmese bushblue, is a species of

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 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 ...

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 easternmost form of this species: ''corthata'' Fruhst. flying in Hongkong is presumably very closely allied to ''ariel''. In ''corthata'' the upper surface of the male is dark, but intensely bluish-violet. Easily separable from typical ''birmana'' by the hindwing in which the dark marginal band is analwards narrower. - In typical ''birmana'' Mr. (= ''arisba'' Nic.) the postmedian band on the forewing beneath is still coherent, whereas in the larger form ''aberrans'' Nic. now_species_''Arhopala_aberrans''_(de_Nicéville,_[1889.html" ;"title="Arhopala_aberrans.html" ;"title="now species ''Arhopala aberrans">now species ''Arhopala aberrans'' (de Nicéville, [1889">Arhopala_aberrans.html" ;"title="now species ''Arhopala aberrans">now species ''Arhopala aberrans'' (de Nicéville, [1889 ] it is interrupted in the centre. In this form from Tenasserim the female has also much more white in the disc of the forewing above. The male of all the forms are above violettish-blue with a broader or narrower black margin.Seitz , A. Band 9: Abt. 2, ''Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge, Die indo-australischen Tagfalter'', 1927, 1197 Seiten 177 Tafeln

Subspecies

*''A. b. birmana'' Assam, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Hong Kong *''A. b. asakurae'' (Matsumura, 1910) Taiwan *''A. b. hiurai'' (Hayashi, 1976) Palawan (Philippines)

References

Arhopala Butterflies of Asia Butterflies of Indochina Taxa named by Frederic Moore Butterflies described in 1883 {{Theclinae-stub