''Tirumala gautama'', the scarce blue tiger, is a butterfly species 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 ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

that belongs to the "crows and tigers", that is, the danaid group of the

brush-footed butterflies 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 redu ...

family.

Description

Upperside fuliginous black with semi-hyaline bluish-white streaks and spots. Forewing: a long narrow streak generally extended to spot beyond and a short curved broader upper streak in interspace 1; cell with two narrow streaks joined at base, and an irregular spot sometimes divided into three at apex, the upper of the two basal streaks generally extended to the apical spot; a curved discal series of streaks, broad and elongate in interspace 2, short, almost rectangular, in interspace 3, narrow and elongate in the interspaces to the costa; finally, an irregular, somewhat crooked subterminal row of spots and a terminal more regular series of dots. Hindwing: two streaks, joined at base in cell, with short, slender, detached streak between their apices; interspace 1b white; 1a, 1, 2 and 3 with two streaks, joined at base in each; 4 to 8 with single broad short streaks; beyond these, subterminal and terminal rows of spots. Underside similar, hyaline markings clearer. Antennae black; head and thorax black, spotted and streaked with bluish white; abdomen fuscous, ochraceous beneath. Male secondary sex-mark in form 1. Race ''gautamoides'' (

Nicobar Islands The Nicobar Islands are an archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean. They are located in Southeast Asia, northwest of Aceh on Sumatra, and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea. Located southeast of the Indian s ...

) smaller than ''gautama'', Moore, with comparatively narrower wings. Forewing: upper streak in cell very short and ill-defined. Hindwing: streaks in cell much broader, the lower one with a projection in form of a hook or spur.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2580964 Tirumala (butterfly) Butterflies of Asia Butterflies of Indochina Butterflies described in 1877 Taxa named by Frederic Moore