Celastrina musina

Taxobox
name = Swinhoe's Hedge Blue


image_width =
image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Lepidoptera
superfamilia = Papilionoidea
familia = Lycaenidae
genus = "Celastrina"
species = "C. musina"
binomial = "Celastrina musina"
binomial_authority = (Snellen, 1892)

The Swinhoe's Hedge Blue ("Celastrina musina") [http://internt.nhm.ac.uk/jdsml/research-curation/projects/lepindex/detail.dsml?TaxonNo=202265.0&UserID=&UserName=&&listPageURL=list%2edsml%3fSCIENTIFIC%5fNAME%5fon%5fcardqtype%3dstarts%2bwith%26sort%3dSCIENTIFIC%255fNAME%255fon%255fcard%26SCIENTIFIC%5fNAME%5fon%5fcard%3dmusina%26recLimit%3d30&searchPageURL=index%2edsml%3fsort%3dSCIENTIFIC%255fNAME%255fon%255fcard%26SCIENTIFIC%5fNAME%5fon%5fcardqtype%3dstarts%2bwith%26SCIENTIFIC%5fNAME%5fon%5fcard%3dmusina%26recLimit%3d30 Card for "musina" in LepIndex. Accessed 14 October 2006.] ] is a small butterfly found in IndiaEvans,W.H.(1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies, ser no H21.18, pp 221-226] that belongs to the Lycaenids or Blues family.

Description

Male underside: pale lilacine grey. Fore wing: costa bordered by a slender line, termen by a comparatively broad and even band of dusky black, the latter diffuse along its inner margin. Hind wing: costal margin diffusely dusky black, termen with a slender black anticiliary line; dorsal margin narrowly pale. Underside: white with a slight tinge of blue. Fore wing: a short line on the discocellulars, a postdiscal transverse series of six abbreviated lines pointing obliquely outwards and "en echelon" one with the other, the uppermost shifted well inwards, followed by a sub-terminal series of transverse spots enclosed between an inner subterminal, lunular, transverse line and an outer anticiliary slender line, pale brown. Hind wing: a transverse subbasal series of three, sometimes four, minute spots and a spot beyond on the dorsum, with a larger subcostal spot near the apex of the wing, black; a short slender line on the discocellulars and some irregular dots on the disc pale brown; terminal markings as on the fore wing. Cilia of both fore and hind wings whitish. Antenna, head, thorax and abdomen dark brown, the antennae ringed with white beneath: the palpi, thorax and abdomen white.

Female upperside, fore wing: a broad border to the costal and terminal margins dusky black, the rest of the w ing iridescent light blue; on the costa the lower edge of the black traverses the middle of the cell, on the apex and termen it occupies the outer fourth of the wing. Hind wing: anterior third dusky black, the rest of the wing pale lilacine glossed with iridescent blue in certain lights; a sub-terminal series of dusky black spots that more or less coalesces with an anticiliary dusky black hue and is enclosed on the inner side by a slender similarly-coloured lunular line. The underside, antennae, head, thorax and abdomen as in the male. [Bingham, C. T. 1907. Fauna of British India. Butterflies. Volume 2]

Taxonomy

The butterfly was earlier known as "Lycaenopsis musina" Swinhoe.

Range

It is found in Assam, India.

Cited references

ee also

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

References

* Beccaloni, G. W., Scoble, M. J., Robinson, G. S. & Pitkin, B. (Editors). 2003. The Global Lepidoptera Names Index (LepIndex). World Wide Web electronic publication. http://www.nhm.ac.uk/entomology/lepindex [accessed 14 October 2006] .
* Evans, W.H. (1932) The Identification of Indian Butterflies. (2nd Ed), Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai, India