Spalgis epius
{{Short description|Species of butterfly}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Apefly
| image = Apefly Spalgis epius (4049108508).jpg
| image_caption = Upperside
| image2 = Spalgis epius 00002(28052015).jpg
| image2_caption = Underside, Kerala, India
| taxon = Spalgis epius
| authority = (Westwood, 1851)
| synonyms =
- Geridus epeus Westwood, [1851]
- Lucia epius
- Spalgis nubilus Moore, [1884]
- Lucia fangola Kheil, 1884
- Spalgis titius Fruhstorfer, 1919
- Lucia substrigata Snellen, 1878
- Spalgis strigatus Semper, 1889
- Spalgis georgi Fruhstorfer, 1919
- Spalgis semperi Fruhstorfer, 1919
- Lucia dilama Moore, 1878
- Spalgis pharnus Felder, 1860
}}
Spalgis epius,{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/49324#page/258/mode/1up |title=The genera of diurnal Lepidoptera: comprising their generic characters, a notice of their habits and transformations, and a catalogue of the species of each genus|last1=Doubleday|first1=Edward|last2=Westwood|first2=John Obadiah|author-link1=John O. Westwood|author-link2=Edward Doubleday|publisher=Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans|year=1851|location=London|pages=502}} commonly known as the apefly, is a small species of butterfly found in the Indomalayan realm that belongs to the lycaenids or blues family.{{Cite book |title=A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India |last1=Varshney |first1=R. K. |last2=Smetacek|first2=Peter|publisher=Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing |year=2015|isbn=978-81-929826-4-9|location=New Delhi|pages=91|doi=10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164}}{{cite web |last=Savela |first=Markku |date=September 25, 2016 |url=https://www.nic.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/insecta/lepidoptera/ditrysia/papilionoidea/lycaenidae/miletinae/spalgis/#epius |title=Spalgis epius (Westwood, 1852) |website=Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms |access-date=January 15, 2020}} It gets its name from the supposed resemblance of its pupa to the face of an ape.
Description
=Male=
Upperside: dull brown, slightly darker towards the apex of the forewing; also a more or less quadrate whitish spot beyond the apex of the cell on the same wing; in some specimens this spot is slightly diffuse. Underside: pale, silky, brownish white; forewings and hindwings crossed by numerous, very slender, short, sinuous, transverse, dark brown strigae which are outwardly slenderly edged with brownish white of a shade paler than that of the ground colour; both wings with an anteciliary dark brown line with on the inner side a similar edging. Forewing, in addition, with an oval white spot beyond the cell. Cilia of both forewings and hindwings of the same shade as the ground colour of the wings. Antenna, head, thorax and abdomen pale brown, club of antennae ochraceous at apex; beneath: the palpi and thorax brownish grey, abdomen pale brown.
=Female=
Upperside: slightly paler brown. Forewing: the cell and apex darker; a white spot similar to that in the male but larger, beyond the apex of the cell; in most specimens extended diffusely outwards and downwards. Hindwing: similar to that of the male. Underside: precisely as in the male.{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{cite book |last1=Bingham |first1=C. T. |author-link=Charles Thomas Bingham |title=The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma: Butterflies Volume II |url=https://archive.org/stream/butterflies02bingiala#page/310/mode/2up/ |publisher=Taylor and Francis, Ltd. |location=London |year=1907|pages=311}}}}{{Source-attribution|sentence=yes|{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/103631#page/248/mode/1up |title=Lepidoptera Indica: Volume VII|last=Swinhoe|first=Charles|author-link=Charles Swinhoe|publisher=Lovell Reeve and Co.|year=1905–1910|location=London|pages=234–235}}}}
Life cycle
Image:Apefly (Spalgis epius) mating pair.jpg|Mating Pair
Image:Apefly First-instar.jpg|Apefly first-instar caterpillar
Image:Spalgis epius Cat early instar.JPG|Apefly second-instar caterpillar
Image:Spalgis epius cat later instar.JPG|Third-instar caterpillar
Image:Spalgis epius cat final instar.JPG|Final-instar caterpillar
Image:Apefly Spalgis epius Pupa (3666792277).jpg|Pupa
Image:Freshly Eclosed Spalgis epius.JPG|Freshly eclosed apefly butterfly
The caterpillars of this butterfly, like other members of the subfamily Miletinae, are entomophagous and are predators of scale insects like mealybugs.{{Cite journal|date=2018-04-10 |title=Larval host plants of the butterflies of the Western Ghats, India|first1=Ravikanthachari |last1=Nitin |first2=V.C. |last2=Balakrishnan |first3=Paresh V. |last3=Churi |first4=S. |last4=Kalesh |first5=Satya |last5=Prakash |first6=Krushnamegh |last6=Kunte |name-list-style=amp |journal=Journal of Threatened Taxa |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=11495–11550 |doi=10.11609/jott.3104.10.4.11495-11550|doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Venkatesha |first1=M. G. |first2=L. |last2=Shashikumar |first3=S. S. |last3=Gayathri Devi |name-list-style=amp |date=2004 |url=http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/sep102004/571.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716051734/http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/sep102004/571.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2011-07-16 |title=Protective devices of the carnivorous butterfly, Spalgis epius (Westwood) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) |journal=Current Science |volume=87 |issue=5 |pages=571–572 |via=Internet Archive}} The species unlike many other lycaenid butterflies is not myrmecophilous (it has no mutualistic associations with ants).Venkatesha, M. G. (2005). [https://web.archive.org/web/20110716051803/http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/jul252005/245.pdf "Why is homopterophagous butterfly, Spalgis epius (Westwood) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) amyrmecophilous?"]. Current Science. 89 (2): 245–246. – via Internet Archive.
Subspecies
- S. e. epeus (India, Sri Lanka to Peninsular Malaya, Nicobars, Mergui and southern Yunnan)
- S. e. dilama (Moore, 1878) (Taiwan)
- S. e. fangola (Kheil, 1884) (Sumatra, Nias, possibly Borneo)
- S. e. nubilus Moore, [1884] (Andamans, Pulau Tioman)
- S. e. pharnus Felder, 1860 (Kai, Buru, Ambon, Halmahera, West Irian)
- S. e. semperi Fruhstorfer, 1919 (northern Philippines, Luzon)
- S. e. strigatus Semper, 1889 (southern to central Philippines)
- S. e. substrigata (Snellen, 1878) (Sulawesi)
- S. e. titius Fruhstorfer, 1919 (Java, Bali, Sumba, Sumbawa, possibly Damar and Lombok)
Cited references
See also
References
- {{cite book |last1=Evans |first1=W. H. |author-link=William Harry Evans |title=The Identification of Indian Butterflies |edition=2nd |location=Mumbai, India |publisher=Bombay Natural History Society |year=1932}}
- {{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}}
- {{cite book |last=Haribal |first=Meena |title=The Butterflies of Sikkim Himalaya and Their Natural History |location=Gangtok, Sikkim, India |publisher=Sikkim Nature Conservation Foundation |year=1992}}
- {{cite book |last=Kunte |first=Krushnamegh |title=Butterflies of Peninsular India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cuPPjOMcu_4C |series=India, A Lifescape |location=Hyderabad, India |publisher=Universities Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-8173713545}}
- {{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}}
External links
{{Commons}}
{{Wikispecies}}
- {{cite web |last1=Takanami |first1=Yusuke |last2=Seki |first2=Yasuo |name-list-style=amp |date=2001 |url=http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~EY4Y-TKNM/Miletini-Phil/Spalgis.html |title=Genus Spalgis |website=A Synonymic List of Lycaenidae from the Philippines |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010630131957/http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~EY4Y-TKNM/Miletini-Phil/Spalgis.html |archive-date=June 30, 2001 |via=Internet Archive}} With images.
{{Taxonbar |from=Q7573002}}
Category:Butterflies described in 1851
Category:Butterflies of Singapore