''Choaspes benjaminii'',Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera - page on genu

/ref>TOL web page on genu
''Choaspes''
/ref>also known as the Indian awlking or common awlking, is a species of butterfly in the family

Hesperiidae Skippers are a family of the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) named the Hesperiidae. Being diurnal, they are generally called butterflies. They were previously placed in a separate superfamily, Hesperioidea; however, the most recent taxonomy ...

. The species is named after

Benjamin Delessert Jules Paul Benjamin Delessert (14 February 1773 – 1 March 1847) was a French banker and natural history, naturalist. He was an honorary member of the Académie des Sciences and many species were named from his natural history collections. Biog ...

and was described on the basis of a specimen collected by

Adolphe Delessert Adolphe François Delessert (15 September 1809 – 6 April 1869) was a French explorer and naturalist. A nephew of Baron Jules Paul Benjamin Delessert, Benjamin Delessert, he accompanied George Samuel Perrottet, Perrottet on a journey to India a ...

in the Nilgiris.

Range

The Indian awlking is found in Sri Lanka, India, northern Myanmar, Malaysia, Taiwan and Japan. In India, the Indian awlking ranges from the Palni Hills, Nilgiris and Kodagu in the south to northern and eastern India; from Kulu to Assam and eastwards onto Myanmar. The type locality is Nilgiris in South India.

Status

Not rare.

Description

The Indian awlking is 50 to 60 mm long. It is distinguished by the shining green under hindwing with black veins, orange area with black spots on the tornus. The male butterfly is shining indigo blue above. It has purplish hairs at the base which turn greenish with age. Cilia of hindwing and anal lobe broadly ochreous red. The female butterfly is dark shining green with bluish-grey hairs at the base. forewing with a broad pale cupreous brown band on posterior margin; hindwing with a broad ochreous-red lobular patch with black macular upper border and broad central angular streak. Thorax greyish olive above,

vertex Vertex, vertices or vertexes may refer to: Science and technology Mathematics and computer science *Vertex (geometry), a point where two or more curves, lines, or edges meet *Vertex (computer graphics), a data structure that describes the position ...

bluish olive, abdomen brown; palpi and thorax in front and abdomen beneath, ochreous red.

Habits

The Indian awlking is found in heavy jungles from in the hills. It is attracted to flowers and animal and bird droppings. It frequents the shade in the daytime but is found flying in the open during the early and late hours of the day.

Life cycle

Caterpillars

Larva with broad transverse dorsal black and yellow bands and two rows of white spots along the back; head, two anal segments and laterally below the bands red; face black spotted.

Pupa

Pupa pinkish grey black spotted. The larva rolls itself upon the tip of the leaf on which it feeds, and when it has eaten this leaf it goes to another, and so on till it changes to pupa.

Host plants

The larva (caterpillar) has been recorded on '' Meliosma arnottiana'', ''

Meliosma pinnata ''Meliosma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Sabiaceae, native to tropical to warm temperate regions of southern and eastern Asia and the Americas. It is traditionally considered to contain about 100 species; some botanists take a ...

'', ''

Meliosma simplicifolia ''Meliosma simplicifolia'' is a species of plant in the family Sabiaceae Sabiaceae is a family of flowering plants that were placed in the order Proteales according to the APG IV system. It comprises three genera, '' Meliosma'', '' Ophiocaryo ...

'', '' Sabia campanulata'', '' Meliosma pungens'', '' Meliosma rhoifolia'', ''

Meliosma rigida ''Meliosma rigida'', the stiff-leaved meliosma, is a species of flowering plant in the family Sabiaceae Sabiaceae is a family of flowering plants that were placed in the order Proteales according to the APG IV system. It comprises three gener ...

'', '' Meliosma squamulata'', and '' Buddleja''.

Cited references

References

Print * * Watson, E. Y. (1891) ''Hesperiidae indicae''. Vest and Co. Madras. * Online * *Brower, Andrew V. Z., (2007). ''Choaspes'' Moore 1881. Version 21 February 2007 (under construction). Page o
genus Choaspes
in The Tree of Life Web Project http://tolweb.org/. *.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3595558 Coeliadinae Butterflies of Asia Butterflies described in 1843