Atrophaneura aidoneus

Taxobox
name = Lesser Batwing
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Lepidoptera
familia = Papilionidae
genus = "Atrophaneura"
subgenus = "Atrophaneura"
species = "A. aidoneus"
binomial = "Atrophaneura aidoneus"
binomial_authority = Doubleday, 1845

The Lesser Batwing "Atrophaneura aidoneus" is an Asian species of butterfly that belongs to the Batwings group of "Atrophaneura", comprising tailless black swallowtail butterflies.

Description

* Wingspan - 112-162mm.
* Male : Tailless. Above, the butterfly is bluish-black and unmarked. It has a white scent patch in a square dorsal fold, which is pink or red on its marginal edge. This white scent patch is smaller than that of the Common Windmill.
* Female : Tailless. Above, the butterfly is grey-brown. It has dark stripes in between the veins.

Resembles "Atrophaneura varuna" race "astorion", but differs as follows:— Cell of: lore wing proportionately not quite so long; abdominal fold to the hind wing in male not so broad, its lower margin not square, rounded; the specialized scales within the fold white, with an edging of piuk. Female larger. Upperside: ground-colour olivaceous-brown, never black; abdomen with a broad white, not crimson, lateral stripe.Bingham, C. T. 1907. Fauna of British India. Butterflies. Volume 2]

Range

Northern India, Bhutan, Burma, northern Vietnam, northern Laos, southern China (including Hainan (Guangdong province)).

In India, it is found in Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland.

tatus

The butterfly is not common but not regarded as threatened. [Collins, N.M. & Morris, M.G. (1985) Threatened Swallowtail Butterflies of the World. IUCN. ISBN 2-88032-603-6]

Taxonomy

No subspecies.

Habitat

The Lesser Batwing flies from April to November and frequents forests up to the altitude of 5000 feet.

Habits

The Lesser Batwing is a shade-loving forest butterfly. It has a slow and graceful flight. Both sexes frequent flowers, "Lantana" being a preferred species.

Cited references

References

* Evans, W.H. (1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies. (2nd Ed), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India
* Haribal, Meena (1994) Butterflies of Sikkim Himalaya and their Natural History.
* Wynter-Blyth, M.A. (1957) Butterflies of the Indian Region, Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.

ee also

*Lepidoptera
*Butterfly
*Swallowtail butterfly
*List of butterflies of India
*List of butterflies of India (Papilionidae)

External links

*Image of reliably identified specimen [http://home.att.net/~bret69/] at this address.