''Aulocera padma'', the great satyr, is a brown (Satyrinae) butterfly that ranges across the Himalayas to Assam, northern Burma and western

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

."''Aulocera'' Butler, 1867"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''LepIndex shows this taxon as ''Satyrus swaha''.[] LepIndex considers the genus ''Aulocera'' Butler, 1867; Ent. mon. Mag. 4: 121, TS: ''Satyrus brahminus'' Blanchard to be a junior subjective synonym of ''Satyrus'' Latreille 1810 Cons. gén. Anim. Crust. Arach. Ins.: 355, 440, TS: ''Papilio actaea'' Linnaeus.[]

Range

The butterfly is found in the Himalayas from Shingarh, (Zhob, Safed Koh, Kurram Valley, Kurram, Gilgit, Chitral, India (Kumaon division, Kumaon, Bhutan, Sikkim and Chumbi Valleys) eastwards across to

Abor Abor or ABOR may refer to: * Abor, Enugu, a town in Ojebogene L.G.A., Enugu, Nigeria * Abor, Ghana, a town in the Volta Region of Ghana * Abor Hills, Arunāchal Pradesh * Abor people (disambiguation), multiple uses * Abor Formation, located in th ...

valley, north

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, west

and southeast Tibet .

Status

In 1932, William Harry Evans reported that the species was not rare from Chitral to Sikkim, rare in the eastern extremity of its range and rare and very rare westwards. Mark Alexander Wynter-Blyth said that it was very abundant in the Himalayas and Assam..

Description

The great satyr is 70 to 98 mm in wingspan. Dark brown above. With a white band across both wings. The upper hindwing is of even width throughout. It has a chequered fringe and a dark apical spot or ocellus on the forewing. The under hindwing is dark.

Habits

The great satyr has a powerful graceful flight and is easily recognised on the wing. It is found in all kinds of terrain above and prefers open areas especially on ridges and hilltops above :

Reproduction

The great satyr has two broods (unlike the others of its genus). The first brood appears from the end of April to the onset of the rainy season and is very common. The scarce second brood flies after the monsoon. The larva feeds on Gramineae.

References