Tanaecia lepidea
| Grey count | |
|---|---|
 | |
| T. l. miyana, Kerala | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Nymphalidae |
| Genus: | Tanaecia |
| Species: | T. lepidea |
| Binomial name | |
| Tanaecia lepidea (Butler, 1868) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Tanaecia lepidea, the grey count,[1][2] is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in South[1] and Southeast Asia.[2]
Description
Male
The upperside is dark brown, with obscure black markings of transverse lines across the cells of both forewings and hindwings and an oblique discal fascia on the forewing. An ash-grey continuous band flows along the termen of forewings and hindwings, gradually broadening from the narrow apex of the forewing, to the tornus of the hindwing, where it covers about one-third of the wing.
The cilia are white. The antennae, head, thorax and abdomen are dark brown; beneath, the antennae are ochraceous, the rest dusky white washed with ochraceous.
The underside is brown. The colours are paler on the hindwing; the forewing somewhat narrowly, the hindwing much more broadly suffused with lilacine-grey on the terminal margins and along the dorsal margin of the hindwing. Cells of both wings have dark brown sinuous transverse lines and looplike markings; both forewings and hindwings are crossed by somewhat diffuse broad discal and narrower postdiscal dark bands, prominent on the forewing, obscure on the hindwing. The male has a patch of specialized dark scales above vein 4 on the upperside of the hindwing.[3][4]
Female
The upperside is paler. The termen band is outwardly narrowly bordered with brown. The underside is bright ochraceous.
Distribution
Found in forested habitats of the lower Himalayas eastwards from Almora. In the Western Ghats, central India, Orissa, Bengal and into Assam and the Malay Peninsula.[3]
Life history
Larva
"Of the usual Euthalia form; colour green with a dorsal row of light red ocelli with blue centres; spines tipped with yellow."[3]
Pupa
"More narrowed at the head than E. garuda, green, all the points golden tipped with black, and a few large spots of gold between."[3]
Food plants include Melastoma malabathricum and Planchonia careya.[5]
_caterpillar_on_Careya_arborea_W_IMG_2387.jpg)
caterpillar on Careya arborea
Basking on sunlit leaves_Pokhara.jpg)
T. l. lepidea, Nepal
Doyang Reserve, Nagaland
Museum specimen
References
- 1 2 Varshney, R.K.; Smetacek, Peter (2015). A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India. New Delhi: Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing. p. 104. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164. ISBN 978-81-929826-4-9.
- 1 2 Savela, Markku. "Tanaecia lepidea (Butler, 1868)". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
- 1 2 3 4
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Bingham, Charles Thomas (1905). Fauna of British India. Butterflies Vol. 1. pp. 272–273. - ↑ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Moore, Frederic (1896–1899). Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. III. London: Lovell Reeve and Co. pp. 96–98.
- ↑ Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni and Luis M. Hernández HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants. Accessed October 2006