Spalgis epius
| Apefly | |
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| Species: | S. epius
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| Binomial name | |
| Spalgis epius (Westwood, 1851)
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The Apefly (Spalgis epius) is a small butterfly found in Asia that belongs to the Lycaenids or Blues family.[1] It gets its name from the supposed resemblance of its caterpillar to the face of an ape.
Description
Male
Upperside: dull brown, slightly darker towards the apex of the fore wing; 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; fore and hind wings 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 anticiliary dark brown line with on the inner side a similar edging. Fore wing, in addition, with an oval white spot beyond the cell. Cilia of both fore and hind wings 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. Fore wing: 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. Hind wing: similar to that of the male. Underside: precisely as in the male.[2]
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Apefly with part of upper forewing visible -
Apefly from Salugara forest, North Bengal -
Apefly from Wayanad perched upside down on a twig -
Upperside. Museum specimen. Malaya.
Life cycle
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Headon view of pupa showing the ape face resemblance -
Side view of pupa
The caterpillars of this butterfly like other members of the subfamily Miletinae are entomophagous and are predators of scale insects.[3] The species unlike many other lycaenid butterflies is not myrmecophilous.[4]
Subspecies
- Spalgis epius epius (India, Sri Lanka to Peninsular Malaya, Nicobars, Mergui and southern Yunnan)
- Spalgis epius dilama (Moore, 1878) (Taiwan)
- Spalgis epius fangola (Kheil, 1884) (Sumatra, Nias, possibly Borneo)
- Spalgis epius nubilus Moore, [1884] (Andamans, Pulau Tioman)
- Spalgis epius pharnus Felder, 1860 (Kai, Buru, Ambon, Halmahera, West Irian)
- Spalgis epius semperi Fruhstorfer, 1919 (northern Philippines, Luzon)
- Spalgis epius strigatus Semper, 1889 (southern to central Philippines)
- Spalgis epius substrigata (Snellen, 1878) (Sulawesi)
- Spalgis epius titius Fruhstorfer, 1919 (Java, Bali, Sumba, Sumbawa, possibly Damar and Lombok)
Cited references
- ^ Page on Marrku Savela's site for genus Spalgis (Lycaenidae).
- ^ Bingham, C. T. (1907) Fauna of British India. Butterflies. Volume 2.
- ^ Venkatesha, M. G., L. Shashikumar, S.S.Gayathri Devi (2004) Protective devices of the carnivorous butterfly, Spalgis epius (Westwood) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) Current Science 87(5): 571-572 PDF
- ^ Venkatesha, M. G. (2005) Why is homopterophagous butterfly, Spalgis epius (Westwood) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) amyrmecophilous? Current Science 89(2):245-246 PDF
See also
References
- Evans, W.H. (1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies. (2nd Ed), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India
- Gaonkar, Harish (1996) Butterflies of the Western Ghats, India (including Sri Lanka) - A Biodiversity Assessment of a threatened mountain system. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society.
- Haribal, Meena (1994) Butterflies of Sikkim Himalaya and their Natural History.
- Kunte,Krushnamegh (2005) Butterflies of Peninsular India. Universities Press.
- Wynter-Blyth, M.A. (1957) Butterflies of the Indian Region, Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.
External links
- Asahi Correctly determined photos of Spalgis epius