Neptis hylas, the common sailor,[1][2] is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in the Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia.[1][2] It has a characteristic stiff gliding flight achieved by short and shallow wingbeats just above the horizontal.
| Common sailor | |
|---|---|
| |
| Upperside | |
| |
| Underside | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Nymphalidae |
| Genus: | Neptis |
| Species: | N. hylas
|
| Binomial name | |
| Neptis hylas | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Description edit
Dry-season form - Upperside black, with pure white markings. Forewing discoidal streak clavate (club shaped), apically truncate, subapically either notched or sometimes indistinctly divided; triangular spot beyond broad, well defined, acute at apex, but not elongate; discal series of spots separate, not connate (united), each about twice as long as broad; postdiscal transverse series of small spots incomplete, but some are always present. Hindwing: subbasal band of even or nearly oven width; discal and subterminal pale lines obscure; postdiscal series of spots well separated, quadrate or subquadrate, very seldom narrow. Underside from pale golden ochraceous to dark ochraceous almost chocolate; white markings as on the upperside, but broader and defined in black. Forewing: interspaces 1a and 1 from base to near the apex shaded with black, some narrow transverse white markings on either side of the transverse postdiscal series of small spots. Hindwing a streak of white on costal margin at base, a more slender white streak below it; the discal and subterminal pale lines of the upperside replaced by narrow white lines with still narrower margins of black. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen black; the palpi, thorax and abdomen beneath dusky white.[3]
Wet-season form - Differs only in the narrowness of the white markings and in the slightly darker ground colour and broader black margins to the spots and bands on the underside.[3][4]
More than 20 subspecies have been described.[5] [6] [7]
-
Upperside on right, underside left -
Mating pair, Bangalore, India -
In Dumbara, Rathnapura, Sri Lanka -
N. h. matuta
Bali, Indonesia -
N. h. matuta
Bali, Indonesia -
male N. h. kamarupa
Nepal -
N. h. luculenta
Taiwan -
N. h. papaja
Phuket, Thailand -
N. h. papaja
Phuket, Thailand
_Bali_I.jpg)
_underside_Bali_I.jpg)
_male_Babai_bridge.jpg)
_Phuket.jpg)
_underside_Phuket.jpg)
This species has been observed to make sounds whose function has not been established.[8]
Distribution edit
Throughout continental India; Sri Lanka; Assam; Nepal; Myanmar (Tenasserim), extending to China and Indomalaya.[1][2]
Life history edit
Larva edit
Race varmona = eurynome. Frederic Moore describes this from a drawing by Samuel Neville Ward as follows:
"Head larger than the anterior segment, vertex with two short pointed spines, cheeks obtusely spined; third, fourth, sixth and twelfth segments armed with a subdorsal pair of stout fleshy spiny processes, those on the fourth segment longest. Colour pale green; face, the tip of processes and segments slightly washed with pale pinkish, a slight pinkish oblique lateral fascia from an anal process; a small, dark, lateral spot on the sixth segment."[3]
Pupa edit
"Rather short; head-piece bluntly cleft in front, vertex pointed; thorax dorsally prominent and angular; dorsum angular at base; abdominal segments slightly angled dorsally; wing-cases somewhat dilated laterally. Colour pale brownish-ochreous, with lateral thoracic golden spots."[3]
Larval Host Plants edit
- Bombax
- Bombax ceiba
- Hevea brasiliensis
- Fabaceae
- Canavalia ensiformis
- Urena lobata
- Flemingia
- Lathyrus
- Mucuna purpurea
- Paracalyx
- Paracalyx scariosus
- Rhynchosia
- Vigna cylindrica
- Vigna unguiculata
- Xylia xylocarpa
- Nothapodytes nimmoniana
- Malvaceae
- Corchorus
- Helicteres isora
- Triumfetta
References edit
- ^ a b c 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. 190. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164. ISBN 978-81-929826-4-9.
- ^ a b c "Neptis Fabricius, 1807" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
- ^ a b c d
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Bingham, Charles Thomas (1905). Fauna of British India. Butterflies Vol. 1. pp. 323–326.
- ^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Moore, Frederic (1896–1899). Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. III. Vol. 3. London: Lovell Reeve and Co. pp. 227–232.
- ^ Citizen science observations for Neptis hylas at iNaturalist
- ^ "Neptis hylas Linnaeus, 1758". India Biodiversity Portal. Retrieved Dec 5, 2020.
- ^ Saji, K.; Soman, A.; Bhakare, M.; Manoj, P. (2020). Kunte, K.; Sondhi, S.; Roy, P. (eds.). "Neptis hylas (Linnaeus, 1758) – Common Sailer". Butterflies of India. 3 (3). Indian Foundation for Butterflies.
- ^ Scott, F.W. (1968). Sound produced by Neptis hylas (Nymphalidae). Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society 22(4):254
External links edit
Media related to Neptis hylas at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Neptis hylas at Wikispecies
