Amblypodia anita, the purple leaf blue[1][2] or leaf blue,[2] is a lycaenid or blue butterfly found in South Asia and Southeast Asia, including Sri Lanka, India,[1] Myanmar, Malaysia, and Java. The species was first described by William Chapman Hewitson in 1862.[3][2][4]

Purple leaf blue
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Genus: Amblypodia
Species:
A. anita
Binomial name
Amblypodia anita
Hewitson, 1862
Synonyms

Horsfieldia anita

Description

edit

Male. Upperside dark violet-purple with very little gloss, the colour obscuring the marginal black borders. Forewing, costa and outer margin with a moderately broad blackish band, generally broadest on the latter. Hindwing with the costal band broad, the outer marginal band narrow, in most specimens a mere line; anal lobe marked with dull red. Cilia black, tail stout, with a black cilia. Underside rufous-brown. Forewing with a black line from the costa near the apex to the hinder margin beyond the middle, followed by a post-discal series of indistinct disconnected lunular black marks, not always visible, and sometimes indications of a sub-marginal series. Hindwing with a medial outwardly curved black line and an indistinct outwardly curved discal series of black dots marked with white points, both in continuation of the two lines of the forewing, and a series of sub-marginal similar black dots, the ground colour of the wing varying in tone in different examples. Female. Upperside very dull violet, sometimes almost violet-brown. Forewing with broad costal and outer marginal blackish-brown borders. Hindwing generally uniform dull violet-brown, without any borders, anal lobe as in the male. Underside varying in shade of colour from ochreous-grey to violet-brown, markings as in the male, but some of the darker-coloured examples have a band of suffused whitish marks in connection with the discal line. Antennae black, with an orange tip; head and body above and below concolorous with the wings.

 

References

edit
  1. ^ a b 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. 110. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164. ISBN 978-81-929826-4-9.
  2. ^ a b c Savela, Markku, ed. (November 4, 2014). "Amblypodia anita Hewitson, 1862". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  3. ^ Beccaloni, G.; Scoble, M.; Kitching, I.; Simonsen, T.; Robinson, G.; Pitkin, B.; Hine, A.; Lyal, C., eds. (2003). "​Amblypodia anita​". The Global Lepidoptera Names Index. Natural History Museum. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  4. ^ a b   One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Swinhoe, Charles (1910–1911). Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. VIII. Vol. 8. London: Lovell Reeve and Co. pp. 137–138.