www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Can anyone help me with the ID of these butterflies seen on my recent trip to Goa, India

http://www.hows.org.uk/inter/birds/2008 ... kphoto.htm

Thanks

Mark

I've temporarily lost my book on Indian butterflies. I'll keep looking and if no one else does the IDs before I'll get back to you later, when I find it.

Guy

I think Butterfly 22 (Mating pair) are African Ringlets and butterfly 7 is a moth but I don't know what. Here is a list of all Indian butterflies if this helps: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bu ... s_of_India

Hi Mark,

I was in Goa at the end of January this year and picked up a handy butterfly guide while I was there. I think I can identify most of your photos, but it would be useful to know when the photos were taken because the dry-season forms differ from those of the wet-season to such an extent that the appearance can change completly. From your photos I would assume that it was the dry season.

I will give you a list of suggested identities by Sunday evening. In the meantime, if you Google "Butterflies of Goa" you will find the book of the same name and some contact points for possible purchase.

Regards,

Vince

Hi Mark,

Here is my list of identities for your Goan butterflies. My main source of information was a pocket-sized field companion - "A Photographic Guide to Butterflies of Goa" by Parag Rangnekar, which I found invaluable when I visited. It covers photos of 90 species recorded from Goa except for Skippers and gives a list of a further 35 species that could be encountered in the Goan Western Ghats.

1. Pea Blue (Lampides boeticus) which is known in Euorpe as a Long-Tailed Blue.
2. Common Wanderer (Pareronia valeria).
3. Lemon Pansy (Junonia lemonias).
4. Common Sailer (Neptis hylas).
5. Common Indian Crow (Euploea core).
6. Blue Tiger (Tirumala limniace), with Common Indian Crow (Euploea core).
7. Unknown - possibly a moth.
8. Common Emigrant (Catopsilia pomona).
9. Common Sailer (Neptis hylas).
10. Common Rose (Pachliopta aristolochiae).
11. Unknown Skipper - possibly a Swift of some sort.
12. Common Four-Ring (Ypthima huebneri).
13. Common Evening Brown (Melanitis leda).
14. Common Four-Ring (Ypthima huebneri).
15. Common Cerulean (Jamides celeno).
16. Glassy Tiger (Parantica aglea).
17. Glassy Tiger (Parantica aglea).
18. Soldier (Precis iphita), also known as a Chocolate Pansy.
19. Common Indian Crow (Euploea core).
20. Tamil Yeoman (Cirrochroa thais). This is an endemic species.
21. Common Emigrant (Catopsilia pomona).
22. Common Four-Ring (Ypthima huebneri).
23. Peacock Pansy (Junonia almana).
24. Common Pierrot (Castalius rosimon).
25. Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hecabe).
26. Peacock Pansy (Junonia almana).
27. Unknown White.
28. Common Hedge Blue (Actolepis puspa).

I am fairly happy with this list but am happy to be corrected by Guy when he finds his book. I am actually still trying to identify a Blue from my own trip and will probobly post it next week.

Cheers,

Vince.

I'm more than happy to leave these IDs - my book covers the whole of India and yours is specific to Goa, Vince.

For the remaining unidentified ones, I agree the first is a moth. My book doesn't cover skippers. The Pierid, however, no. 27, is Catopsilia pomona, form catilla. There is a web picture of this here:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_dczdK2LShYE/SF0mM ... C07478.jpg

and another here:

http://butterfly.nss.org.sg/expert/2001 ... ide-s2.jpg

Guy

All photos were taken in November this year in Goa

Thanks for all the effort

Mark