Aulocera brahminoides

Aulocera brahminoides is a brown (Satyrinae) butterfly that is found in the Himalayas.[1][2]

Aulocera brahminoides
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Aulocera
Species:
A. brahminoides
Binomial name
Aulocera brahminoides
Kollar, 1844

Range

The butterfly is found in the Himalayas including Sikkim, the Chumbi Valley and Tibet.[1][3]

Status

In 1932 William Harry Evans reported that the species was rare in the Chumbi Valley.[3]

Description
For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

Earlier Aulocera brahminoides was considered a subspecies of A. brahminus.[3]

Aulocera brahminoides is 50 to 60 mm in wingspan and its smaller than A. brahminus.[3]

The narrow-banded satyrs are large, powerfully built Himalayan butterflies which are black or very dark brown above. They are characterised by a white discal band across both wings. The hindwing band is narrow and even in width. The white discal spots in 1 to 4 along the inner edge of the forewing are in line. The wings are rounded with convex termens and have chequered fringes. A dark apical spot or ocellus is present on the forewing. The under hindwing is dark below, with beautiful white variegations not as prominent as the dark background.[3][4]

The tegumen is gradually sloped to the tip.[3]

In A. brahminus, the under-forewing apical ocellus is well-defined and prominently pupilled while in A. brahminoides it is less well defined, much smaller and darker. The upper-hindwing discal band to dorsum, which is a characteristic feature in A. brahminus is much curved in the case of A. brahminoides.[3]

See also

References
  1. "Aulocera Butler, 1867" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  2. LepIndex shows this taxon as Satyrus swaha.[Beccaloni, G.; Scoble, M.; Kitching, I.; Simonsen, T.; Robinson, G.; Pitkin, B.; Hine, A.; Lyal, C., eds. (2003). "Satyrus swaha". The Global Lepidoptera Names Index. Natural History Museum. ] LepIndex considers the genus Aulocera Butler, 1867; Ent. mon. Mag. 4: 121, TS: Satyrus brahminus Blanchard. to be a junior subjective synonym of Satyrus Latreille 1810 Cons. gén. Anim. Crust. Arach. Ins.: 355, 440, TS: Papilio actaea Linnaeus.[Beccaloni, G.; Scoble, M.; Kitching, I.; Simonsen, T.; Robinson, G.; Pitkin, B.; Hine, A.; Lyal, C., eds. (2003). "Satyrus". The Global Lepidoptera Names Index. Natural History Museum. ]
  3. Evans, W.H. (1932). The Identification of Indian Butterflies (2nd ed.). Mumbai, India: Bombay Natural History Society. p. 116, ser no D11.1. as subspecies of A. brahminus.
  4. Wynter-Blyth, Mark Alexander (1957). Butterflies of the Indian Region. Bombay, India: Bombay Natural History Society. pp. 108–109. ISBN 978-8170192329.
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