Discophora lepida
{{Short description|Species of butterfly}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Sahyadri Duffer @ Kanjirappally.jpg
| image2 = DiscophoraLepida151 1b.jpg
| image_caption =
| genus = Discophora (butterfly)
| species = lepida
| authority = (Moore, 1857)
}}
Discophora lepida, the southern duffer,[http://ftp.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/papilionoidea/nymphalidae/morphinae/discophora/ "Discophora Boisduval, [1836]"] at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms is a butterfly found in Sri Lanka and south India that belongs to the duffers group, that is, the Morphinae subfamily of the brush-footed butterflies family.{{Cite book|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287980260|title=A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India|last1=R.K.|first1=Varshney|last2=Smetacek|first2=Peter|publisher=Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing, New Delhi|year=2015|isbn=978-81-929826-4-9|location=New Delhi|pages=160|doi=10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164}}
Description
{{Entomology glossary hatnote}}
This species resembles Discophora celinde, but in the male the ground colour on the upperside is dark velvety brown without any blue reflections; the forewing is crossed pre-apically by three obliquely-placed, comparatively large, pale-blue spots with an ill-defined series of three or four much smaller subterminal spots; in the female the markings, though similar to those in the female of D. celinde, are on the upperside of the forewing all pale blue, not yellow, and more numerous, larger, and better defined on the upperside of the hindwing. Underside. Male similar to that in male of D. celinde, but a more or less prominent diffuse subterminal band irrorated with lilac scales crosses both forewing and hindwing. Female similar to the female of D. celinde, but much paler.{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/butterfliesvolii00bing#page/200/mode/2up/|title=Fauna of British India. Butterflies Vol. 1|last=Bingham|first=Charles Thomas|author-link=Charles Thomas Bingham|year=1905|pages=201–202}}}}{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/103300#page/202/mode/1up|title=Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. II|last=Moore|first=Frederic|author-link=Frederic Moore|publisher=Lovell Reeve and Co.|year=1893–1896|location=London|pages=190–191}}}}
Wingspan 80–104 mm.
File:Southern Duffer.JPG, Kerala, India]]
Distribution
It is found in South India and Sri Lanka.
Status
In 1957, Mark Alexander Wynter-Blyth described the species as rare.{{cite book|last=Wynter-Blyth |first=Mark Alexander |author-link=Mark Alexander Wynter-Blyth |title=Butterflies of the Indian Region |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yEkgAQAAMAAJ |year=1957 |location=Bombay, India |publisher=Bombay Natural History Society |isbn=978-8170192329 |page=136 }}{{cite book |last=Gaonkar |first=Harish |author-link=Harish Gaonkar |title=Butterflies of the Western Ghats, India (including Sri Lanka) - A Biodiversity Assessment of a Threatened Mountain System |publisher=Centre for Ecological Sciences |location=Bangalore, India |year=1996 |page=Table I.5 }}
Life cycle
=Larva=
"Cylindrical or slightly fusiform; bead large; anal segment furnished with two stout conical processes widely separated, but scarcely divergent; colour of head greenish yellow; eyes black; body brown, with a broad pure white dorsal band flanked with conspicuous black marks, and a yellow lateral mark on segments 6 to 11; head and body clothed with long reddish or brown hair." (Davidson, Bell and Aitken)
=Pupa=
"... head-case produced into two long conical adjoined processes, the thorax slightly convex and carinated dorsally, the wing-cases evenly expanded, abdomen strongly curved dorsally; surface finely rugose; colour semi-transparent yellowish, like a clean white bone, with the dorsal line anc the veins of: the wings marked in faint flesh-colour, loosely attached by the tail."
See also
References
{{Reflist|2}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q5281677}}
Category:Butterflies of Sri Lanka