Arnetta vindhiana, the Vindhyan bob,[3] is a species of butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae. It is native to India.[3][4][5]

Arnetta vindhiana
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Hesperiidae
Genus: Arnetta
Species:
A. vindhiana
Binomial name
Arnetta vindhiana
(Moore, 1883)[1]
Synonyms
  • Isoteinon vindiana Moore, 1883[2]

Description edit

 

Male. Upperside dark olive-brown; cilia cinereous (ashy grey); forewing with a small yellow semi-transparent spot at upper end of the cell, three conjoined subapical spots, two discal spots, and a small oval spot above the submedian vein. Underside dusky ochreous: forewing with the posterior area broadly black; spots as above; hindwing with a yellow lunule at end of the cell, a small spot above it and five discal spots.[6]

Size: 25–32 mm. On the underside of the hindwing, spots are obscure. On the upperside of the forewing spots on the upper edge of the cell may be absent. The male has no tuft on the underside of the forewing.[6]

Distribution edit

This species is reported from Palni Hills, Nilgiri Hills, Meghamalai, Wayanad, Coorg, Konkan, west Khandesh, Mhow, Thana, Surat Dangs and Madhya Pradesh. Apparently being absent from the heavier jungle country between Bombay and Coorg. Presumably also found in the Vindhyan rage. T. R. D. Bell stated that they are found in dry, bamboo-growing hilly country, but Wynter-Blyth found it not uncommon on the western slopes of the Nilgiris in September and October in the very wettest, thickest jungle and it seems to be found in similar country in Coorg. Bell says that it is common in the Surat Dangs, where it is found sitting on the ground on dry leaves, blades of grass etc. It visits flowers.

Also recorded from the Nilgiris by George Francis Hampson, who considered this, modesta and nilgiriana as a single species with vindhiana being the dry-season form, nilgiriana the wet-season form, and modesta, described from a single specimen obtained by Mr. Lindsay, a variant. In collections of Indian Museum and Lionel de Nicéville.[6]

References edit

  1. ^ Arnetta, funet.fi
  2. ^ Moore, Frederic (1883) P. Z. S.:533
  3. ^ a b R.K., Varshney; Smetacek, Peter (2015). A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India. New Delhi: Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing, New Delhi. p. 47. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164. ISBN 978-81-929826-4-9.
  4. ^ W. H., Evans (1949). A Catalogue of the Hesperiidae from Europe, Asia, and Australia in the British Museum. London: British Museum (Natural History). Department of Entomology. p. 235.
  5. ^   One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Swinhoe, Charles (1912–1913). Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. X. London: Lovell Reeve and Co. p. 190.
  6. ^ a b c   One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: E. Y., Watson (1891). Hesperiidae Indicae : being a reprint of descriptions of the Hesperiidae of India, Burma, and Ceylon. Madras: Vest and Company. p. 84.