Ancema blanka

Ancema blanka, the silver royal,[2][3] is a species of lycaenid or blue butterfly found in the Indomalayan realm. The species was first described by Lionel de Nicéville in 1894.[2][3]

Silver royal
A. b. minturna, Courvoisier Collection, Basel
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Lycaenidae
Genus:
Ancema
Species:
A. blanka
Binomial name
Ancema blanka
Synonyms
  • Pratapa argentea Aurivillius, 1897
  • Pratapa lucidus H. H. Druce, 1895

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

Lionel de Nicéville described this species in 1894 as:

Female. Upperside, forewing with the costa at the base very narrowly, the apex very widely, the outer margin decreasingly black; the rest of the wing rather light clear blue. Hindwing with the costa broadly fuscous; the apex widely, the outer margin narrowly black; the abdominal margin as far as the submedian nervure whitish the rest of the wing blue; the anal lobe small, black, crowned with a few blue scales, the lobe anteriorly bearing against it a white fascia the tails rather short, black, tipped with white, the longer one from the termination of the first median nervule, the shorter from the submedian nervure. Cilia black throughout. Underside, forewing immaculate drab, the inner margin extending broadly on to the disc dull ochreous. Hindwing drab; with an irregular outer discal dark line outwardly defined by white from the abdominal margin to the third median nervule; a small oval black spot on the margin in the first median inter-space; a slightly larger black spot on the anal lobe, anteriorly and posteriorly bearing some fine turquoise-blue scales; the space between and above these spots ochreous; an anteciliary black thread inwardly defined by a narrow white thread from the anal lobe to the third median nervule; cilia of the forewing and the anterior moiety of the hindwing drab, the posterior moiety whitish. Body above clothed with lonog hairs of the shade of blue of the wings; thorax beneath drab, abdomen beneath dull ochreous.

— Lionel de Nicéville, "On new and little-known butterflies from the Indo-Malayan region"[1]

Subspecies
  • A. b. blanka South India, Sikkim - Assam, Myanmar, Sumatra[4]
  • A. b. minturna (Fruhstorfer, 1912) Thailand, Laos, Sikkim, Assam, Bhutan
  • A. b. nacandra (Fruhstorfer, 1912) Java
  • A. b. sudica (Evans, 1926) South India
  • A. b. reina Schröder & Treadaway, 1998

Habits

They fly very fast. During summers, the male occasionally comes to water but usually keeps to the treetops and rocks, especially on the summit of hills, where they basks in the sun with the wings half open. Silver royals can sometimes be seen sitting on the dung of animals and by the sides of small streams and waterfalls.[5] Females are rarely seen.[6]

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References
  1. Nicéville, Lionel de (1894). "On new and little-known butterflies from the Indo-Malayan region". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 63: 39. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  2. Varshney, R. K.; Smetacek, Peter (2015). A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India. New Delhi: Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing. p. 118. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164. ISBN 978-81-929826-4-9.
  3. Savela, Markku (4 December 2015). "Ancema blanka (de Nicéville, 1894)". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  4. "Ancema blanka (de Nicéville, 1894) – Silver Royal". Butterflies of India. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  5. A Pictorial Guide Butterflies of Gorumara National Park (2013 ed.). Department of Forests Government of West Bengal. p. 95.
  6. Wynter-Blyth, M. A. (1957). Butterflies of the Indian Region (First ed.). Bombay: The Bombay Natural History Society. pp. 338–339.
  • Takanami, Yusuke & Seki, Yasuo (2001). "Genus Ancema". A Synonymic List of Lycaenidae from the Philippines. Archived from the original on 8 July 2001 – via Internet Archive. With images.


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