''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 ''Canthium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. They are shrubs and small trees. The leaves are deciduous and the stems are usually thorny. Distribution ''Canthium'' species are predominantly found in Southeast Asia, espec ...

'', ''

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 which ...

'', ''

Dovyalis gardnerii ''Dovyalis'' is a genus of shrubs and small trees. Recent genetic evidence has shown the genus to belong to the family Salicaceae; formerly it was classified in the family Flacourtiaceae. The 15 species are native to Africa (Ethiopia south to So ...

'', ''

Dovyalis hebecarpa ''Dovyalis hebecarpa'', with common names Ceylon gooseberry, ketembilla, and kitambilla, is a plant in the genus ''Dovyalis'', native to Sri Lanka and southern India. The fruit are often eaten fresh, or made into jam. Some cultivars have been sel ...

'', '' 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 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 tetrasperma'', commonly called Indian willow, is a medium-sized tree of wet and swampy places, shedding its leaves at the end of monsoon season. It flowers after leafing. The bark is rough, with deep, vertical fissures and the young shoot ...

'', '' 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,

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

Description

Distribution and subspecies

Status

Habits

Larval host plants

Life cycle gallery

See also

References