Grey Count

Grey Count

Tanaecia lepidea miyana Frushstorfer

NYMPHALIDAE (= Euthalia lepidea ( Butler))

Adult

Upperside dark brown with faint, black transverse markings at the base of both wings. Male with a pale grey marginal band which broadens gradually from the apex of the FW to the tornus of the HW. Band duller and darker in female. Underside FW yellowish brown in male, bright yellow in female. HW paler in both sexes with terminal bluish grey markings. Wingspan 65-80mm.

An insect of more moist jungles, almost exclusively in the wettest low-land evergreen forests. Rare in the Nilgiris. Visits damp patches rarely and never flowers. Fond of fruits and tree sap. Seen basking in the sun with wings held flat on a leaf.

Larva

Of the Euthalia type. Bluish green with a row of 4 small tubercles near the posterior margin of segments 3-11. 10 pairs of lateral branched spines. Spines finer and irregular in length, all tipped with yellow and some spines straight and completely yellow.

Feeds on Patana Oak and the Indian Rhododendron.

Distribution

India, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Malaysia.