Arhopala anthelus

Anthelus bushblue
A. a. anthelus
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Arhopala
Species:	A. anthelus
Binomial name
Arhopala anthelus (Westwood, 1851) [1]
Synonyms
Amblypodia anthlusWestwood, [1851] Amblypodia antheaEvans, 1925 Arhopala grahamiCorbet, 1941 Amblyopia anundaHewitson, [1869] Narathara anthelios imparEvans, 1957 Amblyopia anthelios var. saturationStaudinger, 1889

Arhopala anthelus, the angelus bush blue, is a species of lycaenid or blue butterfly found in the Indomalayan realm.

Description

Male . Upperside : both wings brilliant shining violet-blue ; the primaries with black linear costa and posterior margin ; secondaries with broadish brown costa, linear black posterior margin, and very pale grey abdominal fold. Tail black, white-tipped. Underside : both wings pale greyish brown, with dark spots broadly edged with whitish. Primaries with three large increasing spots, touching the second of which are two or three somewhat confluent spots up to the costal nervure. Upperside : both wings violet, with very broad brown costal and posterior margins to primaries and less broad borders to the secondaries. Underside as in male. ^[2]

Subspecies

• A. a. anthelus (Burma)
• A. a. anthea(Evans, 1925) (Mergui, southern Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos)
• A. a. anunda(Hewitson, [1869]) (Borneo, Sumatra) -abundant panther-like stripes on the under surface, on which the prominent dark spots are surrounded by a bright ochreous-yellow colour. In the female the whole distal halves of the wings above are darkened, the black margin of the wings being 3 to 4 mm broad. ^[3]
• A. a. expallidaSeki, 1994 (Sumatra)
• A. a. fulguritaSeki, 1994 (Mentawai islands)
• A. a. grahamiCorbet, 1941 (Peninsular Malaysia, Langkawi)with female blue to violet blue with broad borders. ^[4]
• A. a. imparEvans, 1957 (Mindoro)
• A. a. jabadiaFruhstorfer, 1914 (western Java) males above morpho-blue.
• A. a. majestatisFruhstorfer, 1914 (Nias)- above deep blue, with a very bright gloss.
• A. a. marinduquensisHayashi, Schröder & Treadaway, 1984 (Philippines: Marinduque)
• A. a. mitisSeki, 1994 (Pulau Belitung)
• A. a. paradisiiSchröder & Treadaway, 1990 (Philippines: Dinagat)
• A. a. reverieSeki, 1994 (Panay Island)
• A. a. sanmarianaOsada & Hashimoto, 1987 (Philippines: north-eastern Luzon)
• A. a. saturatior(Staudinger, 1889) (Philippines: Palawan)
• A. a. sotadesFruhstorfer, 1914 (Philippines: Mindanao)- glaring light blue, the female sometimes with a greenish lustre above; ground-colour beneath more intensely smoke-brown.

Gallery

• 
  A. a. sotades From the Courvoisier Collection, Basel, Switzerland
• 
  A. a. anunda
• 
  A. a. majestatis
• 
  A. a. marinduquensis

References

1. Muller, C.J. & Tennent, W.J. (2011). "Arhopala anthelus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2011: e.T160930A5383422. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2011-2.RLTS.T160930A5383422.en . Retrieved 26 December 2012.
2. Bethune-Baker, G. T. 1903. A revision of the Amblypodia group of butterflies of the family Lycaenidae. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London 17(1): 3–164, 5 pls. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
3. Seitz , A. Band 9: Abt. 2, Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge, Die indo-australischen Tagfalter, 1927, 1197 Seiten 177 Tafeln This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
4. Fleming, W.A., 1975. Butterflies of West Malaysia and Singapore. Vol.1: 64pp, pls 1-54; Vol.2: 92pp, pls 55-90. E.W.Classey Ltd