Mycalesis lepcha

Mycalesis lepcha
Lepcha Bushbrown
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Tribe: Elymniini
Genus: Mycalesis
Species: M. lepcha (but see text)
Binomial name
Mycalesis lepcha
(Moore, 1880)
Synonyms
  • Mycalesis annamitica lepcha (but see text)
    (Moore, 1880)
  • Mycalesis watsoni
    Evans, 1912

The Lepcha Bushbrown (Mycalesis (annamitica) lepcha) is a satyrine butterfly found in Asia. It is not resolved whether it is best considered a distinct species, or included in Mycalesis annamitica. It was formerly included in Mycalesis malsara.[1]

Description

Wet-season form. Upperside very dark vandyke-brown ; cilia whitish brown; the discal transverse white bar on the underside of the wings showing through very clearly, more distinctly on the fore than on the hind wing; followed on both wings by two or three dark pale-ringed, generally non-pupilled ocelli, and sub-terminal and terminal pale slender lines. Underside: groundcolour darker, the discal white bar and terminal slender line as on the upperside, but the former clear and well-defined inwardly, diffuse outwardly; fore wing with four, hind wing with seven white-centred, fulvous-ringed, black ocelli; the rows of ocelli bordered on both sides by narrow crescentic pale purpurescent marks forming somewhat irregular lines; subterminal line similar, lunular. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen brown; club of the antennae ochraceous, marked with black on the inner side. Male sex-mark in form 2.

Dry-season form.Upperside similar but paler; the ocelli, especially on the hind wing, obscure or absent; the transverse white discal band on the wings seen by transmission from the underside narrow and very obscure. Underside: basal areas of wings up to the discal white band dark brown in the male, ochraceous brown in the female ; the discal white band very narrow and ochraceous white; the terminal margins beyond purpurescent; ocelli minute; both fore and hind wings irrorated with short, transverse, brown striae.

"Race lepcha, Moore. The North-West Himalayan and Southern Indian race of M. malsara, closely resembling it in both the wet- and dry-season forms. It differs in having the transverse discal band crossing both wings very much narrower and not showing through at all on the upperside ; the ocelli are very much smaller and more obsolescent. Underside in the dry-season form irrorated as in M. malsara with short, transverse, dark brown striae."[verification needed][1]

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Bingham (1905)

References

  • Bingham, C.T. (1905): The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Lepidoptera, Volume 1


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