Surendra vivarna, the acacia blue,[1][2] is a species of lycaenid or hairstreak butterfly found in Sri Lanka, India[1] and the Indonesian islands as far as Sulawesi.[3][2]

Acacia blue
In North Sulawesi
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Genus: Surendra
Species:
S. vivarna
Binomial name
Surendra vivarna
(Horsfield, 1829)
Synonyms
  • Amblypodia vivarna Horsfield, [1829]
  • Amblypodia amisena Hewitson, 1862

Range

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Its range is similar to that of its genus, Surendra, except it is not recorded from China or the Philippines proper (where it is replaced by S. maniliana), but from Balabac, Palawan and the Calamian Islands.[4][2]

Description

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Upperside: both wings rather intense deep blue: primaries with the costa broadly, posterior margin more broadly, apex still more broadly black ; secondaries with the blue limited to just over the median area, the rest of the wings black. Tails two, black, the longer one white-tipped. Underside : both wings very dark greyish brown: primaries with an obscure dark dot near the centre of the cell and a small dash closing it, costa with three dark dots; transverse blackish line curved irregularly and scalloped from the costa to the submedian nervure, a submarginal row of blackish dots, margin obscurely dark, internal area quite pale: secondaries with a small white spot about one-third along the costal nervure, below which is an obscure dark short dash in the cell; from two-thirds along the costa to the middle of the abdominal margin is a narrow, indefinite, obscure band of dark shading edged externally and sharply with white, a submarginal row of dark spots forming an almost lunular line; on each side of the long tail is a slight grey scaling. Upperside: both wings entirely dark brown. Underside as in the male, but decidedly paler.

— Bethune-Baker, A Revision of the Amblypodia Group of Butterflies of the Family Lycaenidae[5]

Subspecies

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  • Surendra vivarna amisena Hewitson, 1862, (South Burma, Thailand, Malaya, and Sumatra)[6]
  • Surendra vivarna palowna Staudinger, 1889, (Borneo)[7]
  • Surendra vivarna samina Fruhstorfer, 1904, (Sulawesi)[4]
  • Surendra vivarna agdistis Fruhstorfer (Nias)
  • Surendra vivarna biplagiata Butler, 1883 (southern India)[1][2]
  • Surendra vivarna latimargo Moore, 1879 (Andamans)
  • Surendra vivarna discalis Moore (Sri Lanka)

Food plants

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Fabaceae (Acacia, Albizia, Paraserianthes) and it is facultatively attended by various ants.

See also

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Cited references

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  1. ^ 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. 109. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164. ISBN 978-81-929826-4-9.
  2. ^ a b c d Surendra at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  3. ^ Eliot J.N., in The Butterflies of the Malay Peninsula, 4th Edition.
  4. ^ a b Vane-Wright R.I. & de Jong R. 2003. The Butterflies of Sulawesi.
  5. ^   One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Bethune-Baker, George Thomas (1903). A Revision of the Amblypodia Group of Butterflies of the Family Lycaenidae. p. 6.
  6. ^ Pinratana A. Butterflies in Thailand, Volume 4, 1981.
  7. ^ Seki Y. Butterflies of Borneo, Volume 2, No. 1, 1991.