''Celaenorrhinus leucocera'',
[Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera. Page on genu]
commonly known as the common spotted flat,
[ is a species of ]butterfly
Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprise ...
belonging to the family Hesperiidae. It is a common butterfly generally found in the wet forested hills of southern Asia, from India and the Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...
east through Indo-China
Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...
. The upper surfaces of the wings are dark brown with white bands and small white spots towards the tip of the wings.
Description
The butterfly has a wingspan of 45 to 55 mm. It is dark brown above. The forewing has a band of more or less connected discal spots, which are white and semi-transparent. Of this band, two spots, i.e. the one in end cell, and that at 2; are rectangular and connected to more or less degree. The butterfly also has small white spots in the apex of the forewing. The hindwing has a few obscure, opaque yellow spots. The hindwing margins are chequered black and white.
The male has plain white antenna shafts, while the female has plain brown shafts with white clubs.
It is a very variable species.
Detailed description
Edward Yerbury Watson
Edward Yerbury Watson (27 July 1864 – 8 November 1897) was an English entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera most notably Hesperiidae.
Yerbury Watson was born in British India to Joanna and George Edward Watson. He joined the North Lan ...
(1891) gives a detailed description, shown below:
Distribution and habitat
This butterfly is found in Myanmar, Thailand, western China, Malaysia and the Indonesian archipelago (Borneo
Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...
, Sumatra, Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...
and Bali).
It occurs in India wherever its preferred forest habitat - moist, deciduous, semi-evergreen and secondary evergreen forests with a basically natural, varied herb and shrub vegetation - is present. It ranges from South India
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territ ...
through Maharashtra to Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
, and along the Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...
from Kashmir to Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
and Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares ...
(Mishmi Hills
The Mishmi Hills are located at the northeastern tip of India, in northeastern Arunachal Pradesh. On the Chinese side, they form the southern parts of Nyingchi Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
These hills occur at the junction of No ...
); and also the Andaman islands. It flies from plains level to in the Himalayas
The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...
.
The type locality of this species is the Himalayas.
Ecology and life cycle
The common spotted flat flies in the wet jungles of the peninsula and the Himalayas. It is a shade-loving insect, rarely venturing out of the forest, except early in the morning, late in the evening or when it is overcast.
It visits flowers and rests on the undersides of leaves. Its long proboscis permits it to feed from flowers having long tubular corollas. It visits '' Impatiens'', ''Asystasia
The genus ''Asystasia'' belongs to the family Acanthaceae and comprises approximately 70 species found in the tropics, including the weedy species ''Asystasia gangetica''.
Selected species
* '' Asystasia africana'' (S. Moore) C.B. Clarke
* '' A ...
'', '' Blepharis'', '' Peristrophe'', ''Crossandra
''Crossandra'' is a genus of plants in the family Acanthaceae, comprising 54 species that occur in Africa, Madagascar, Arabia and the Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiog ...
'' and other Acanthaceae
Acanthaceae is a family (the acanthus family) of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing almost 250 genera and about 2500 species. Most are tropical herbs, shrubs, or twining vines; some are epiphytes. Only a few species are distributed in tem ...
shrubs and herbs which are abundant in the dappled environs of the forest edge where this butterfly is most likely to be found. The butterfly can also be spotted mud-puddling
Mud-puddling, or simply puddling, is a behaviour most conspicuous in butterflies, but occurs in other animals as well, mainly insects; they seek out nutrients in certain moist substances such as rotting plant matter, mud and carrion and they suck ...
occasionally.
When active, the common spotted flat alternates between sun and shade, flying in the open patches for a while and resting a while when in the shade. As it is a wary butterfly which rarely settles on the top of bushes, resting instead mostly on the undersides of leaves, it is difficult to get a good look at the common spotted flat in the field. Its fast, zig-zagging flight also makes it difficult to track while in the air. It flies fast and low, usually below 6 feet, and aggressively defends its territory from other butterflies. When disturbed, it buzzes in circles around before settling down, near to where it was perched before.
This species, like others of its group, is distinguished by its habit of keeping its wings spread flat; the behaviour which gives these butterflies their name.
Eggs
The egg of the common spotted flat are green, dome-shaped, glossy and have many small longitudinal ridges with smooth surfaces in between. The egg is laid on the young leaves of plants in shady places, both above and below the leaf surface. The eggshell forms the first meal of the newly hatched caterpillar.
Caterpillars
After eating the eggshell, the first instar
An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or ...
caterpillar constructs a cell from a triangular piece of leaf which it folds over the upper surface of the leaf. It lines the inside with silk. Here, the caterpillar resides till it outgrows the cell, whereupon it proceeds to construct a larger one, purse shaped using two leaves where it rests with head turned on the side. If disturbed, the caterpillar raises its front over the back with legs outstretched and jaws open.
The caterpillar is dark olive green with a dorsal wavy line of deeper tinge. It has a paler coloured band running along the spiracles throughout the length of the body. The legs and underside of the caterpillar are pale green. The skin is dull, transparent and is covered with minute whitish hairs. Its heart-shaped head is glossy, dark with a rufous tinge, and having a flat base below.
Pupa
The caterpillar pupates in a cell, sometimes on fresh leaves, at other times on dead leaves or even in the leaf litter. The pale reddish-golden pupa is cylindrical, widest at the thorax, tapering quickly towards the head and gently towards the rear. The head has a small rounded protuberance. The pupa is firmly fixed to the silk pad.
Host plants
The food plants are mostly common Acanthaceae shrubs from semi-evergreen, deciduous and secondary evergreen forests. The caterpillars have been recorded on ''Asystasia gangetica
''Asystasia gangetica'' is a species of plant in the family Acanthaceae. It is commonly known as the Chinese violet, coromandelPlants of Hawaii: ''Asystasia gangetica'': http://www.hear.org/starr/images/species/?q=asystasia+gangetica&o=plants, r ...
'', '' Ecbolium linguistrinum'', ''Eranthemum roseum
''Eranthemum roseum'', also known as blue eranthemum, rosy eranthemum (Marathi language, Marathi: ''dasmuli'', दसमुळी; ''jangali aboli'', जंगली अबोली ) is a native of the Western Ghats of India. The plant has tuber ...
'', '' Nilgirianthus heyneanus'', '' Nilgirianthus barbatus'', '' Carvia callosa'' and '' Thelepaepale ixiocephala''.[Kunte, K. 2006. Additions to the known larval host plants of Indian butterflies. ''Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society'' 103(1):119-121]
Status
It is common. It is the commonest of all ''Celaenorrhinus'' species occurring in India.
The best period to see the common spotted flat is during the rainy season and months immediately after. The population decreases as winter and summer progresses and rises once again at the next monsoon.
Gallery
File:Common Spotted Flat (Celaenorrhinus leucocera) 01 LHP (2015.12.12).jpg, Host plant: ''Eranthemum roseum
''Eranthemum roseum'', also known as blue eranthemum, rosy eranthemum (Marathi language, Marathi: ''dasmuli'', दसमुळी; ''jangali aboli'', जंगली अबोली ) is a native of the Western Ghats of India. The plant has tuber ...
''
File:Common Spotted Flat (Celaenorrhinus leucocera) 01 Egg.jpg, Egg
File:Common Spotted Flat (Celaenorrhinus leucocera) 03 Larva (2015.12.12).jpg, Larva
File:Common Spotted Flat (Celaenorrhinus leucocera) 10 Pupa (2016.01.04).jpg, Pupa
File:Common Spotted Flat (Celaenorrhinus leucocera) 14 Butterfly (2016.01.08).jpg, Imago (dorsal view)
File:Common Spotted Flat (Celaenorrhinus leucocera) 16 Butterfly (2016.01.08).jpg, Imago (ventral view)
Cited references
See also
* Hesperiidae
*List of butterflies of India (Hesperiidae)
India has a rich biodiversity of butterfly, butterflies, of which skipper (butterfly), skippers are a well represented family. Of the seven subfamilies belonging to the family Hesperiidae, four are found in India, comprising a total of 223 species ...
References
Print
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Online
*
*Brower, Andrew V. Z., (2007). Celaenorrhinus Hübner 1819. Ancistrocampta C. Felder & R. Felder 1862 currently viewed as a subjective junior synonym. Version 4 March 2007 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Celaenorrhinus/95353/2007.03.04 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/.
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5057460
leucocera
Common Spotted Flat
Fauna of Pakistan
Butterflies of Asia
Butterflies of Indochina