''Phengaris atroguttata'', the great spotted blue,Page on Markku Savela's site for genus ''Phengaris'' (Lycaenidae).
/ref> Retrieved April 23, 2018. is a small

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

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 ...

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 ...

, and

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 ...

that belongs to the lycaenids or blues family.

Taxonomy

The butterfly was earlier known as ''Polyommatus atroguttata'' (Oberthür).

Range

It is found in

Nagaland Nagaland () is a landlocked state in the northeastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south and the Sagaing Region of Myanmar to the east. Its capital cit ...

and the

Chin Hills The Chin Hills are a range of mountains in Chin State, northwestern Burma, Burma (Myanmar), that extends northward into India's Manipur state. Geography The highest peak in the Chin Hills is Khonu Msung, or Mount Victoria, in southern Chin State ...

and is considered rare.

Subspecies

*''Phengaris atroguttata atroguttata'' northwest

, west

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

*''Phengaris atroguttata juenana'' (Forster, 1940)

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

*''Phengaris atroguttata lampra'' (Röber, 1926) north

*''Phengaris daitozana'' Wileman, 1911

Description

The butterfly ranges from 44 to 48 mm. The butterfly is white with pale blue suffusion, and, also a dark border on the forewing. The male butterfly has very large black discal spots showing through from below. These are darkened in above in the case of the female butterfly.

Cited references

References