''Phalanta phalantha'', the common leopard
[ or spotted rustic,][ is a sun-loving butterfly of the ]nymphalid
The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have a red ...
or brush-footed butterfly family.
Description
The common leopard is a medium-sized butterfly with a wingspan of 50–55 mm with a tawny colour and marked with black spots. The underside of the butterfly is more glossy than the upper and both the male and female are similar looking. A more prominent purple gloss on the underside is found in the dry-season form of this butterfly.
Distribution and subspecies
The butterfly is found in Subsaharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the African ...
and southern Asia (including 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 ...
, Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
, and 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 ...
) in a number of subspecies.[
*''P. p. phalantha''
*''P. p. luzonica'' Fruhstofer (Philippines)
*''P. p. columbina'' (Cramer) (southern China, Hainan and possibly Taiwan)
*''P. p. araca'' (Waterhouse & Lyell, 1914) (Australia)
*''P. p. aethiopica'' (Rothschild & Jordan, 1903) (Madagascar, Seychelles, Aldabra, Comoro, Tropical Africa)
*''P. p. granti'' (Rothschild & Jordan, 1903) (Socotra Island)
]
Status
It is widely distributed and abundant; from the tops of hills in Sri Lanka and southern India and up to 3000 m in the Himalayas, as well as the whole of Subsaharan Africa.
Habits
Sun loving and avoids shade. Seen in the plains, gardens, and edges of clearings. Has active and sharp flight movements. Visits flowers regularly especially ''Lantana'', ''Duranta'', ''Meyenia laxiflora'', ''Gymnosporia montana'', and thistles. Often seen mudpuddling from damp patches in the ground, either alone or in groups. A regular basker with wings spread wide open. It is commonest in dry areas and dry weather and absent from the wetter parts of India during the monsoon. It often perches on edges of clearing with wings half open and has the habit of chasing away other butterflies and guarding its territory.
Larval host plants
Food plants are species of family ''Bixaceae
The Bixaceae are a family of dicotyledonous plants commonly called the achiote family. Under the Cronquist system, the family was traditionally placed in the order Violales. However, newer arrangements move it, with some other families previousl ...
''. It has been recorded breeding on ''Flacourtia
''Flacourtia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Salicaceae. It was previously placed in the now defunct family Flacourtiaceae. The generic name honors Étienne de Flacourt (1607–1660), a governor of Madagascar. It contains 15 speci ...
indica'', ''Flacourtia montana
''Flacourtia montana'' is a plant in the family Salicaceae. It is native to southern Asia. The species presents as a tree up to 20 m in height.
Description
The tree can attain height about 25 m and girth up to 1.7 m. Tree trunk will be covere ...
'', ''Smilax
''Smilax'' is a genus of about 300–350 species, found in the tropics and subtropics worldwide. In China for example about 80 are found (39 of which are endemic), while there are 20 in North America north of Mexico. They are climbing flowering ...
'', ''Xylosma longifolium
''Xylosma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Salicaceae. It contains around 100 species of evergreen shrubs and trees commonly known as brushhollies, xylosmas, or, more ambiguously, "logwoods". The generic name is derived from the Gr ...
'', and ''Salix
Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist so ...
''.
Larval host plants recorded from families 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 te ...
, Compositae
The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...
, Flacourtiaceae
The Flacourtiaceae is a defunct family of flowering plants whose former members have been scattered to various families, mostly to the Achariaceae and Salicaceae. It was so vaguely defined that hardly anything seemed out of place there and it beca ...
, Primulaceae
The Primulaceae , commonly known as the primrose family (but not related to the Onagraceae, evening primrose family), are a family (biology), family of Herbaceous plant, herbaceous and woody flowering plants including some favourite garden plants ...
, Salicaceae
The Salicaceae is the willow family of flowering plants. The traditional family (Salicaceae ''sensu stricto'') included the willows, poplar, aspen, and cottonwoods. Genetic studies summarized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) have greatly ...
, Rubiaceae
The Rubiaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules ...
, Violaceae
Violaceae is a family of flowering plants established in 1802, consisting of about 1000 species in about 25 genera. It takes its name from the genus ''Viola'', the violets and pansies.
Older classifications such as the Cronquist system placed t ...
and specific plants are ''Barleria prionitis
''Barleria prionitis'' is a shrub in the family Acanthaceae, native to Island and Mainland Southeast Asia, China, the Indian Subcontinent, the Arabian Peninsula and northeastern Africa. It is widely spread as an ornamental and weed, occurring in ...
'', '' Canthium parviflorum'', ''Coffea arabica
''Coffea arabica'' (), also known as the Arabic coffee, is a species of flowering plant in the coffee and madder family Rubiaceae. It is believed to be the first species of coffee to have been cultivated and is currently the dominant cultivar, r ...
'', ''Dovyalis caffra
''Dovyalis caffra'' ( Warb.), Aberia caffra (Harv. & Sond.) the Umkokola, Kei apple, Kayaba, Kai apple, or Kau apple, is a small to medium-sized tree, native to southern Africa. Its distribution extends from the Kei River in the south, from whi ...
'', '' Dovyalis gardnerii'', '' Dovyalis hebecarpa'', '' Dovyalis macrocalyx'', '' Dovyalis rotundifolia'', ''Flacourtia indica
''Flacourtia indica'' ( syn. ''Flacourtia ramontchi''), known commonly as ramontchi, governor's plum, Madagascar plum and Indian plum, is a species of flowering plant native to much of Africa and tropical and temperate parts of Asia. ''F. indica' ...
'', ''Flacourtia inermis
''Flacourtia inermis'', known commonly as lovi-lovi, or batoko plum, is a species of flowering plant native to the Philippines and Indonesia, but which has naturalized around the edges of tropical Asia and Africa. Common names in Indonesia inclu ...
'', ''Flacourtia jangomas
''Flacourtia jangomas'', the Indian coffee plum, or scramberry, is a lowland and mountain rain forest tree in the family Salicaceae. It is widely cultivated in Southeast and East Asia, and has escaped cultivation in a number of places. '', ''Flacourtia montana
''Flacourtia montana'' is a plant in the family Salicaceae. It is native to southern Asia. The species presents as a tree up to 20 m in height.
Description
The tree can attain height about 25 m and girth up to 1.7 m. Tree trunk will be covere ...
'', ''Flacourtia ramontchii
''Flacourtia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Salicaceae. It was previously placed in the now defunct family Flacourtiaceae. The generic name honors Étienne de Flacourt (1607–1660), a governor of Madagascar. It contains 15 specie ...
'', ''Mangifera indica
''Mangifera indica'', commonly known as mango, is a species of flowering plant in the family Anacardiaceae. It is a large fruit tree, capable of growing to a height of . There are two distinct genetic populations in modern mangoesthe "Indian type ...
'', ''Maytenus buchanii
''Maytenus'' ''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607 is a genus of flowering plants in the family Celastraceae. Members of the genus are distributed throughout Central and South America, Southeast Asia, Micronesia and Australasia, the Indi ...
'', ''Melaleuca leucadendra
''Melaleuca leucadendra'', commonly known as weeping paperbark, long-leaved paperbark or white paperbark is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is widespread in northern Australia, Southeast Asia, New Guinea and the Torres Strait Island ...
'', '' Petalostigma quadriloculare'', ''Populus alba
''Populus alba'', commonly called silver poplar,Webb, C. J.; Sykes, W. R.; Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988: Flora of New Zealand. Vol. IV. Naturalised Pteridophytes, Gymnosperms, Dicotyledons. 4. Christchurch, New Zealand, Botany Division, D.S.I.R. si ...
'', ''Populus × canescens
''Populus'' × ''canescens'', the grey poplar, is a hybrid between ''Populus alba'' (white poplar) and '' P. tremula'' (common aspen). It is intermediate between its parents, with a thin grey downy coating on the leaves, which are much less ...
'', ''Populus deltoides
''Populus deltoides'', the eastern cottonwood or necklace poplar, is a Populus sect. Aigeiros, cottonwood Populus, poplar native to North America, growing throughout the eastern, central, and southwestern United States as well as the southern Ca ...
'', ''Salix babylonica
''Salix babylonica'' (Babylon willow or weeping willow; ) is a species of willow native to dry areas of northern China, but cultivated for millennia elsewhere in Asia, being traded along the Silk Road to southwest Asia and Europe.Flora of China'' ...
'', '' Salix tetrasperma'', '' Salix warburgii'', ''Scolopia chinensis
''Scolopia'' is an Old World genus of plants in the family Salicaceae.
Species include:
* ''Scolopia braunii'' ( Klotzsch) & Sleumer - an Australian rainforest tree
*''Scolopia buxifolia'' Gagnep.
*'' Scolopia chinensis'' (Lour.) Clos
*'' Sc ...
'', '' Scolopia oldhami'', '' Scolopia scolopia'', '' Smilax tetragona'', ''Tridax procumbens
''Tridax procumbens'', commonly known as coatbuttons or tridax daisy, is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is best known as a widespread weed and pest plant. It is native to the tropical Americas including Mexico, but it ...
'', '' Trimeria grandifolia'', '' Xylosma racemosa''.[HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/projects/hostplants/) accessed on July 2, 2007.]
Life cycle gallery
File:Common Leopard (Phalanta phalantha) mating with newly imerged butterfly in Hyderabad, AP W IMG 9382.jpg, Mating with butterfly newly emerged from a pupa in Hyderabad, India
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the '' de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern In ...
File:Phalantha p egg sec.jpg , Egg
File:Phalantha p larva sec.jpg , Larva
Common leopard fritillary (Phalanta phalantha aethiopica).jpg, ''P. p. aethiopica''
Queen Elizabeth Park, Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
File:Common leopard fritillaries (Phalanta phalantha aethiopica).jpg, puddling, Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
See also
*Nymphalidae
The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have a red ...
*List of butterflies of India
The following is a list of the butterflies of India.
India has extremely diverse terrain, climate and vegetation, which comprises extremes of heat cold, desert and jungle, of low-lying plains and the highest mountains, of dryness and dampness, i ...
*List of butterflies of India (Nymphalidae)
This is a list of the butterflies of India belonging to the family Nymphalidae and an index to the species articles. This forms part of the full List of butterflies of India.
Danainae (26 spp)
See List of butterflies of India (Danainae).
Morphi ...
References
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2715874
Vagrantini
Insects of Pakistan
Butterflies described in 1773
Butterflies of Singapore
Butterflies of Indochina
Butterflies of Africa
Butterflies of Asia
Taxa named by Dru Drury