''Spalgis epius'', commonly known as the apefly, is a small species of

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

found in the

Indomalayan realm The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Ind ...

that belongs to the lycaenids or blues family. It gets its name from the supposed resemblance of its pupa to the face of an

ape Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a superfamily of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and Europe in prehistory, and counting humans are found global ...

Description

Male

Upperside: dull brown, slightly darker towards the apex of the forewing; also a more or less quadrate whitish spot beyond the apex of the cell on the same wing; in some specimens this spot is slightly diffuse. Underside: pale, silky, brownish white; forewings and hindwings crossed by numerous, very slender, short, sinuous, transverse, dark brown strigae which are outwardly slenderly edged with brownish white of a shade paler than that of the ground colour; both wings with an anteciliary dark brown line with on the inner side a similar edging. Forewing, in addition, with an oval white spot beyond the cell. Cilia of both forewings and hindwings of the same shade as the ground colour of the wings. Antenna, head, thorax and abdomen pale brown, club of antennae ochraceous at apex; beneath: the palpi and thorax brownish grey, abdomen pale brown.

Female

Upperside: slightly paler brown. Forewing: the cell and apex darker; a white spot similar to that in the male but larger, beyond the apex of the cell; in most specimens extended diffusely outwards and downwards. Hindwing: similar to that of the male. Underside: precisely as in the male.

Life cycle

Image:Apefly (Spalgis epius) mating pair.jpg, Mating Pair Image:Apefly First-instar.jpg, Apefly first-instar caterpillar Image:Spalgis epius Cat early instar.JPG, Apefly second-

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'' 'form, likeness') is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, which occurs between each moult (''ecdysis'') until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to ...

caterpillar Image:Spalgis epius cat later instar.JPG, Third-instar caterpillar Image:Spalgis epius cat final instar.JPG, Final-instar caterpillar Image:Apefly Spalgis epius Pupa (3666792277).jpg, Pupa Image:Freshly Eclosed Spalgis epius.JPG, Freshly eclosed apefly butterfly The caterpillars of this butterfly, like other members of the subfamily Miletinae, are entomophagous and are predators of

scale insect Scale insects are small insects of the Order (biology), order Hemiptera, suborder Sternorrhyncha. Of dramatically variable appearance and extreme sexual dimorphism, they comprise the infraorder Coccomorpha which is considered a more convenient g ...

s like

mealybug Mealybugs are insects in the family Pseudococcidae, unarmored scale insects found in moist, warm habitats. Of the more than 2,000 described species, many are considered pests as they feed on plant juices of greenhouse plants, house plants and ...

s. The species unlike many other lycaenid butterflies is not myrmecophilous (it has no mutualistic associations with ants).Venkatesha, M. G. (2005)
"Why is homopterophagous butterfly, ''Spalgis epius'' (Westwood) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) amyrmecophilous?"
''Current Science''. 89 (2): 245–246. – via Internet Archive.

Subspecies

*''S. e. epeus'' (India, Sri Lanka to Peninsular Malaya, Nicobars, Mergui and southern Yunnan) *''S. e. dilama'' (Moore, 1878) (Taiwan) *''S. e. fangola'' (Kheil, 1884) (Sumatra, Nias, possibly Borneo) *''S. e. nubilus'' Moore, 884/small> (Andamans, Pulau Tioman) *''S. e. pharnus'' Felder, 1860 (Kai, Buru, Ambon, Halmahera, West Irian) *''S. e. semperi'' Fruhstorfer, 1919 (northern Philippines, Luzon) *''S. e. strigatus'' Semper, 1889 (southern to central Philippines) *''S. e. substrigata'' (Snellen, 1878) (Sulawesi) *''S. e. titius'' Fruhstorfer, 1919 (Java, Bali, Sumba, Sumbawa, possibly Damar and Lombok)

Cited references

References

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External links

* With images. {{Taxonbar , from=Q7573002 Butterflies described in 1851 Miletinae Butterflies of Asia Butterflies of Singapore Butterflies of Borneo Butterflies of Indochina