Baltia butleri

Taxobox | name = Butler's Dwarf
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Lepidoptera
familia = Pieridae
genus = "Baltia"
species = "B. butleri"
binomial = "Baltia butleri"
binomial_authority = Alphéraky, 1889

Butler's Dwarf , "Baltia butleri" is a small butterfly of the Family Pieridae, that is, the Yellows and Whites, which is found at high altitudes in India and Pakistan.

Description

:"See glossary for terms used"Closely resembles "Baltia shawi", from which it differs as follows: Male has the upperside ground-colour as in "Baltia shawi". Fore wing has the black markings also more or less similar but altogether smaller and narrower, the terminal series of spots reduced to three or four. Hind wing is similar, but there are two conspicuous black spots on the discocellulars. Underside of the fore wing has the ground-colour white, veins dusky, costa narrowly and apex suffused with pinkish ochraceous ; the discocellular black spot as on the upperside ; veins, 4, 5, 6, and apical portion of 7 broadly bordered on each side with black scales that run parallel to but do not touch the veins. Hind wing : ground-colour pinkish ochraceous, the veins -conspicuously white ; all of them, except a small portion in the middle of the discocellulars, bordered, in the manner similar to the veins at the apex of the fore wing, with broad lines of black scales on each side.

Female has the upperside similar to the upperside of "B. shawi" female, but the wings are irrorated with black scales only at their bases; the black markings on the fore wing are altogether smaller and narrower, and the black curved, outwardly dentate, discal band becomes diffuse and ill-defined posteriorly. On the hind wing the discocellulars are prominently marked with an upper and a lower black spot, and the discal macular band is more conspicuous than in "B. shawi" female. Underside precisely as in the male, except that on the fore wing the discal black band is seen through by transparency from the upperside. In both sexes the antennae, head, thorax and abdomen as in "B. shawi".Bingham, C. T. 1907. Fauna of British India. Butterflies. Vol. 2]

A variety var. "potaxini", Alpheraky, is recorded from the Xian-Shan, Koko-Nor, and Western China. It differs from the typical form on the upperside, in the male by the restriction and narrowness of the black markings, in the female by the ground-colour which is tinged with greenish yellow. On the underside there seems to be scarcely any difference.

The butterfly has a wing expanse of 42-54 mm.

Distribution

Found in Ladakh, the Digha pass; 150000 feet in Leh; Kardong Pass in the Karakoram and other areas at an altitiude of 15,000 to 18,000 feet.

References

ee also

*List of butterflies of India (Pieridae)