Elkalyce kala

Taxobox
name = Black Cupid


image_width =
image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Lepidoptera
superfamilia = Papilionoidea
familia = Lycaenidae
genus = "Elkalyce"
species = "E. kala"
binomial = "Elkalyce kala"
binomial_authority = (De Nicéville 1890)

The Black Cupid ("Elkalyce kala") is a small butterfly found in India that belongs to the Lycaenids or Blues family.

Description

Upperside fuscous black. Fore and hind wings: jet-black anticiliary slender lines and on the hind wing traces of a subterminal line of black spots. Cilia, fore wing: dusky brown ; hind wing: white alternated with brown at the apices of tho veins. Underside: white with a greyish tint on the fore wing except on the posterior terminal third and on the hind wing on the basal area anteriorly. Fore wing: a slender, short, black transverse line on the discocellulars, a transverse discal row of six prominent black spots as follows :—posterior three elongate, placed obliquely and en echelon, the next spot above also elongate and posited almost horizontally, the anterior two round and cxirved inwards ; a transverse inner subterminal series of black lunules, an outer similar series of minute black dots and an anticiliary slender black line ; cilia white alternated with brown at the apices of the veins. Hind wing: a transverse subbasal series of three black spots, the posterior spot minute, a transverse black spot on the middle of the dorsal margin, a transverse slender black lunule on the discocellulars, and a prominent, transverse, somewhat irregularly curved discal row of black spots posited as follows:—posterior two slightly elongate and placed en echelon of the three spots next above, the middle spot is elongate and placed longitudinally, the other two are round, the anterior two spots are round, shifted a little inwards out of line, tlie one nearest the costa very large and conspicuous; terminal markings and cilia as on the fore wing. Antennae black, the shafts speckled with white; head, thorax and abdomen fuscous black; beneath: palpi, head, thorax and abdomen white.Bingham, C. T. 1907. Fauna of British India. Butterflies. Volume 2]

References

ee also

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