Callenya melaena

Callenya melaena, the metallic hedge blue,[1] is a small butterfly found in India[2] that belongs to the lycaenids or blues family.

Metallic hedge blue
Specimen from Malaya
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Lycaenidae
Genus:
Callenya
Species:
C. melaena
Binomial name
Callenya melaena
(Doherty, 1889)
Synonyms
  • Cyaniris melaena Doherty, 1889
  • Lycaenopsis melaena (Doherty, 1889)
  • Celastrina melaena (Doherty, 1889)
  • Cyaniris melaenoides Tytler, 1915
  • Lycaenopsis minima Evans, 1932

Description

Male upperside: deep brown. Forewing: with the basal half dark blue, dull in certain lights, rich, shining and iridescent in others; this colour does not reach the costa, apex or termen where the ground colour forms a broad border to the blue. Hindwing: uniform brown; in certain lights iridescent blue over the basal third, but the blue does not reach either the costa or the dorsum. Underside; dull greyish white. Forewing: with the following fuscous-brown markings: a short transverse line on the discocellulars; a postdiscal transverse series of elongate spots or extremely short bars, the posterior three placed slightly en echelon, the one nearest the costa shifted well inwards; beyond this a transverse unbroken line, a subterminal series of small spots and an anteciliary dark line; costal margin somewhat broadly shaded with very pale brownish grey. Hindwing: a minute spot on dorsum near base of wing, a series of three subbasal spots placed obliquely across the wing and beyond them a much larger round subcostal spot in interspace 7, black; a short dusky brown line on the discocellulars, a brown spot above it in base of interspace 6; a transverse posterior discal series of five spots also brown, the upper four in a slight curve, the lowest shifted outwards out of line with the others; lastly, terminal transverse markings much as on the forewing, only the fuscous brown hue on the inner side of the subterminal series of spots replaced by a series of connected slender lunules. Cilia of forewings and hindwings grey. Antenna, head, thorax and abdomen dark brown, the antennae ringed with white; beneath: palpi, thorax and abdomen greyish white.[3]

Taxonomy

The butterfly was earlier known as Lycaenopsis melaena and was placed in the genus Celastrina.[2]

Range

It is found from Assam to Manipur in India[2] and in Sumatra, Malaya, Indochina, Burma, Thailand and Laos.

Subspecies
  • Callenya melaena melaena (Manipur, Burma, northern Thailand, Laos)
  • Callenya melaena shonen (Taiwan)
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See also

Cited references
  1. Beccaloni, G.; Scoble, M.; Kitching, I.; Simonsen, T.; Robinson, G.; Pitkin, B.; Hine, A.; Lyal, C., eds. (2003). "Callenya melaena". The Global Lepidoptera Names Index. Natural History Museum. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
  2. Evans, W.H. (1932). The Identification of Indian Butterflies (2nd ed.). Mumbai, India: Bombay Natural History Society. pp. 221–226, ser no H21.7.
  3. Bingham, C.T. (1907). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. II (1st ed.). London: Taylor and Francis, Ltd.

References


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