| Stichophthalma sparta | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Lepidoptera |
| Family: | Nymphalidae |
| Genus: | Stichophthalma |
| Species: | S. sparta |
| Binomial name | |
| Stichophthalma sparta de Nicéville, 1889 | |
Stichophthalma sparta, the Manipur jungle queen, [1] is a butterfly found in South Asia that belongs to the Morphinae subfamily of the brush-footed butterflies family.
The Manipur jungle queen ranges from Assam (Abor Hills), Nagaland, Manipur across Myanmar (Kindat and Katha in the north; Htawgaw and Sadon in the north-east of the country, and Gokteik in the northern Shan states) onto northern Yunnan in China. [1] [2]
Evans reports the butterfly as not rare in Sikkim and Assam and as very rare in the Naga Hills. [2] Haribal reports the butterfly as rare in Sikkim. [3]
Upperside of both males and females ochraceous yellow suffused with a darker, somewhat brownish shade of the same towards base of forewing and on hindwing. Forewing has a postdiscal transverse row of fleur-de-lys -shaped spots, a subterminal series of broad black lunules, followed by a series of narrow crescentic marks of the ochraceous ground colour; apex and a terminal line black. Hindwing has a subterminal series of black lunules as on the forewing, giving out inwards a series of large, shafted, roundly lanceolate marks of the same colour, followed, as on the forewing, by narrow ochraceous crescentic marks and a terminal black line, the marks posteriorly rather diffuse and tending to run together. Underside ochraceous yellow, with the following transverse markings: subbasal, median, postdiscal, sub terminal and terminal dark brown sinuous lines; a discal row of dark ochraceous ocelli, six on forewing, five on hindwing: and, bordering the ocelli on the inner side, a variable diffuse dusky-black band, ending posteriorly on the hindwing in a black tornal spot. Antennae dark brown; head, thorax and abdomen ochraceous, abdomen paler beneath.
Female upperside is similar, the black markings broader and heavier. Underside also similar, but the ground colour a beautiful pale green with a silky lustre, the median transverse dark brown line outwardly bordered from costa of forewing to vein 1 of hindwing with greenish white; the dusky-black transversely discal band broader and more diffuse: forewing with seven ocelli; terminal margins broadly but lightly infuscated. [4]
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