www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

A group we don't see in Europe, if you don't count the odd freak sighting of imported insects, is the pansies, Junonia. I saw four species during my recent trip to India.

Firstly, blue pansies, Junonia orithiya, attended my grandfather's grave in Kolkata. I didn't get any upperside shots - they only briefly paused with their wings spread, probably because of the heat - but here is an underside:



Also in Kolkata was this grey pansy, Junonia atlites:



In Mysore I found two more species. This chocolate pansy, Junonia iphita, was flying near Lord Shiva's great bull in the Chamundi hills. I only got long shots of it:




Here is Shiva's bull, carved from a single huge boulder of soapstone:



Shiva won't ride anything else.

My fourth pansy was also flying in Mysore. I think this is the lemon pansy, Junonia lemonias:



It looks much darker in my book, but this was a worn specimen.

I was too early in the year for many Nymphalids - the emperors, admirals and their relatives, for example - but it was good to see this Indian fritillary, Argyreus hyperbius, flying commonly at Doddabetta peak in the Nilgiris:



The only other Nymphalid I found was a single painted lady. I didn't get a good shot of it, and I don't think anyone needs reminding what this species looks like...

For the Satyrids, I saw just one, the common fourring, Ypthima huebneri. This seemed to be quite a variable species. Here is one from the cemetery in Kolkata:



And here is another, from Mysore:



This is a glimpse of the upperside (also in Mysore), which looks a little like some kind of Coenonympha:



Finally, the trip produced just one single skipper, this common banded awl, Hasora chromus.



I was surprised to see so little of this group, but I have to recognise that I was in cities or towns almost all the time and I was only ever going to see the commonest butterflies of urban areas.

Just the swallowtails and whites left to post, which I shall do tomorrow!

Guy

Doesn't the orithiya underside vaguely resemble our Painted Lady?.... excellent, soooo jealous..

I imagine you've seen Junonia sp. on your various visits to the States, Paul... I certainly remember seeing buckeyes, Junonia coenia, in New England when I was a kid. That was another family nostalgia trip. My father sailed to America on the Mayflower II when he was a young man, in 1957, in a recreation of the original voyage of the Pilgrim Fathers, and we went back later with him as a family to visit the Plimoth Plantation and the Pilgrim Village. I remember being particularly irked that the Indians were all on strike the day we went and refused to come out of their teepees. That didn't happen in 1620.

Guy

Lovely photos Guy. You did much better than me when I visited Goa in January/February 2008. According to my little book, I can confirm that the fourth pansy is definately a Lemon Pansy.

I have got a few photos from that trip in my personal gallery (in the overseas sub-album). If you want to see something smaller than a female Tiny Grass Blue.......have a look at the male in the photo of the mating pair. When I first saw one I thought it was a fly

Looking forward to the rest of your photos.

Cheers,

Vince

Hi Vince,

I enjoyed looking at your gallery - you got some excellent photos of those Indian species. I especially like your crimson rose, a species I just couldn't get so close to so all my shots are fuzzy and distant. And quite a big overlap of species, despite the fact I didn't visit the west of the country.

In general, male blues are bigger than female ones, unlike other in groups of butterflies. On that ground, I would have put your smaller tiny grass blue as the female and the larger one as the male. I don't understand the messy bits of butterflies well enough to know if that matches what is going on in the middle of the picture, but it would be my guess anyway. I know what you mean about it looking like a fly - they just don't look big enough to be real, grown-up butterflies!

Guy

padfield wrote:
In general, male blues are bigger than female ones, unlike other in groups of butterflies. On that ground, I would have put your smaller tiny grass blue as the female and the larger one as the male. I don't understand the messy bits of butterflies well enough to know if that matches what is going on in the middle of the picture, but it would be my guess anyway.

Guy

Good point Guy, but in this case my reasoning was based upon the condition of the two individuals. I assumed that, as is usually the case, newly emerged females are immediatly pounced-upon by desperate males who have been serching for a mate for many days. As far as I can recall, all of my various photos of coupled pairs show a fresh female being mated by an older worn male (unless they both emerged at the same time).

I had made some assumptions about the "conjunction point", but, like you, do not have enough information on which to base a working theory. I have a butterfly contact in Goa..........perhaps I may ask him.

Cheers,

Vince

Gorgeous snaps, Guy! Really beautiful!

Great shots, common fourring is my favourite out of those. Like the bull statue too