Poritia erycinoides

Taxobox
name = Blue Gem


image_width =230px
image_caption ="Poritia erycinoides" Upperside left, underside right.From Seitz
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Lepidoptera
superfamilia = Papilionoidea
familia = Lycaenidae
genus = "Poritia"
species = "P. erycinoides"
binomial = "Poritia erycinoides"
binomial_authority = (C. Felder, 1865)

The Blue Gem ("Poritia erycinoides") [http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-curation/projects/lepindex/detail.dsml?TaxonNo=194656.0&UserID=&UserName=&&listPageURL=list%2edsml%3fOriginal%5fAuthorqtype%3dstarts%2bwith%26Current%5ftribeqtype%3dstarts%2bwith%26Current%5ffamily%3dLycaenidae%26SCIENTIFIC%5fNAME%5fon%5fcard%3derycinoides%26sort%3dSCIENTIFIC%255fNAME%255fon%255fcard%26SCIENTIFIC%5fNAME%5fon%5fcardqtype%3dstarts%2bwith%26Current%5fsubfamilyqtype%3dstarts%2bwith%26Current%5fsuperfamilyqtype%3dstarts%2bwith%26Current%5ffamilyqtype%3dstarts%2bwith%26Distribqtype%3dcontains%26recLimit%3d30%26Current%5fgenusqtype%3dstarts%2bwith&searchPageURL=indexadv%2edsml%3fOriginal%5fAuthorqtype%3dstarts%2bwith%26Current%5ftribeqtype%3dstarts%2bwith%26Current%5ffamily%3dLycaenidae%26SCIENTIFIC%5fNAME%5fon%5fcard%3derycinoides%26sort%3dSCIENTIFIC%255fNAME%255fon%255fcard%26SCIENTIFIC%5fNAME%5fon%5fcardqtype%3dstarts%2bwith%26Current%5fsubfamilyqtype%3dstarts%2bwith%26Current%5fsuperfamilyqtype%3dstarts%2bwith%26Current%5ffamilyqtype%3dstarts%2bwith%26Distribqtype%3dcontains%26recLimit%3d30%26Current%5fgenusqtype%3dstarts%2bwith Card for species "erycinoides" in LepIndex. Accessed 04 December 2006.] ] is a small butterfly foundin India, MyanmarEvans,W.H.(1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies, ser no H2.7, pg 208-209. ] and parts of South-East Asia [http://www.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/papilionoidea/lycaenidae/poritiinae/poritia/index.html Page on Marrku Savela's site for genus Poritia (Lycaenidae).] ] that belongs to the Lycaenids or Blues family.

Range

It ranges along the Himalayas from Assam in India to North Myanmar and South to Shan states and Southern MyanmarWynter-Blyth, M.A. (1957) Butterflies of the Indian Region, pg 252.] . As per Savela, the butterfly ranges from Assam, Burma, Malaya, Langkawi, Tioman Islands, Borneo, Java and Thailand.

tatus

Not Rare as per Evans. Rare as per Wynter-Blyth.

Description

A small butterfly, 26 to 36 mm in wingspan. The basal half or more of the call in upper forewing is blue, with blue spots present in the apex and termen. Females - The upper forewing has a yellow discal patch above the blue area. The upper hindwing blue area is small and reduced to dical quadrate spots in 3 and 4. The females resemble those of "P. hewitsoni" but with yellow spots on the upper hindwing. The males of the Blue Gem are bluer than the Common Gem which is greener.

Taxonomy

Five subspecies of the butterfly have been described :-
* "P. erycinoides erycinoides" C. Felder, 1865 - Java.
* "P. erycinoides elsiei" Evans, 1925. Assam - North Myanmar. Not Rare. As per Savela, Burma, N.Thailand.
* "P. erycinoides phraatica" Hewitson, 1878 - South Shan States - South Myanmar. Not Rare. As per Savela, Thailand - Peninsular Malaya, Langkawi, Tioman Is.
* "P. erycinoides trishna" Fruhstorfer, 1919 - Assam, ?Nepal, ?Sikkim.
* "P. ertcinoides phaluke" Druce, 1895 - Borneo.

Cited references

References

Print
*aut|Evans, W.H. (1932) "The Identification of Indian Butterflies". 2nd Ed, (i to x, pp454, 9 figs, Plates I to XXXII), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.
*aut|Wynter-Blyth, M.A. (1957) "Butterflies of the Indian Region", Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India.OnlineOnline
*aut|Beccaloni, G. W., aut|Scoble, M. J., aut|Robinson, G. S. & aut|Pitkin, B. (Editors). 2003. The Global Lepidoptera Names Index (LepIndex). World Wide Web electronic publication. [http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/lepindex] (accessed 26 September 2007).
*aut|Savela, Marrku Website on Lepidoptera [http://www.nic.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/index.html] (accessed 26 September 2007)

ee also

*Lycaenidae
*List of butterflies of India
*List of butterflies of India (Lycaenidae)