Poritia hewitsoni

Poritia hewitsoni, the common gem, is a small butterfly found in India, Myanmar,[1] Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam[2] that belongs to the lycaenids or blues family.

Common gem
Male left, female right
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Lycaenidae
Genus:
Poritia
Species:
P. hewitsoni
Binomial name
Poritia hewitsoni
(Moore, 1865)

Range

It ranges along the Himalayas from Kumaon to Assam in India and onto Myanmar.[1] Recorded from Mangan and Rangpo in Sikkim.[3][4]

Description

It is a small butterfly with a 31 to 38 mm wingspan. Male upper: dark iridescent blue, usually with submarginal and apical spots. The cell on upperside forewing is entirely devoid of blue or with a minute blue spot at the base in some cases. Males also have a tufted brand on the upper hindwing above vein 7. The underside is brown with variable pale lineation. Females: brown above, with a few blue spots. The upper forewing has a yellow discal patch above a blue area.[3][4]

Taxonomy

The butterfly has five subspecies in South Asia:[1]-

  • P. hewitsoni hewitsoni Moore, 1865 - Kumaon to Assam and not rare as per Evans,[1] Sikkim to northern Myanmar and northern Thailand[2]
  • P. hewitsoni tavoyana Doherty 1889 - Myanmar, not rare[1] Manipur, southern Burma, Thailand, Peninsular Malaya[2]
  • P. hewitsoni taleva Corbet, 1940 - Peninsular Malaya[2]
  • P. hewitsoni ampsaga Fruhstorfer, 1912 - Vietnam[2]

Habits

The common gem is found flying high in the lowland jungles. The males tend to fly rapidly and settle on leaves.[3] It occurs in Sikkim in October and November. The tufted brand on the male hindwing has a discernible, distinct odour.[4]

Egg
  • The egg is truncate, half as long as wide, and with two vertical and sloping and two horizontal faces.[3]
gollark: What other things are "batteries"?
gollark: Really? Huh.
gollark: It's probably just a Markov chain with lots of weird training data.
gollark: I think you just need to put quotes around multiple-word arguments.
gollark: It's some internet meme with what looks like a big worm-type thing (which is apparently just a stomach or something from an animal of some kind), captioned with some text about not feeding it tap water because something something fluoride.

See also

Cited references
  1. Evans, W.H. (1932). The Identification of Indian Butterflies (2nd ed.). Mumbai, India: Bombay Natural History Society. p. 208, ser no H2.5.
  2. "Poritia Moore, [1866]" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and some other life forms
  3. Haribal, Meena (1992). The Butterflies of Sikkim Himalaya and Their Natural History. Gangtok, Sikkim, India: Sikkim Nature Conservation Foundation. pp. 91–92, ser no 106, plate 25 (images of male & female).
  4. Wynter-Blyth, Mark Alexander (1957). Butterflies of the Indian Region. Bombay, India: Bombay Natural History Society. p. 252. ISBN 978-8170192329.

References

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