Spalgis epius

Apefly
From Mangaon (Maharashtra, India)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Spalgis
Species:	S. epius
Binomial name
Spalgis epius (Westwood, 1851)
Synonyms
Geridus epeus Westwood, [1851] Lucia epius Spalgis nubilus Moore, [1884] Lucia fangola Kheil, 1884 Spalgis titius Fruhstorfer, 1919 Lucia substrigata Snellen, 1878 Spalgis strigatus Semper, 1889 Spalgis georgi Fruhstorfer, 1919 Spalgis semperi Fruhstorfer, 1919 Lucia dilama Moore, 1878 Spalgis pharnus Felder, 1860

Spalgis epius, the apefly, is a small butterfly found in Asia that belongs to the lycaenids or blues family.^[1] It gets its name from the supposed resemblance of its caterpillar to the face of an ape.

Description

Male

Upperside: dull brown, slightly darker towards the apex of the forewing; also a more or less quadrate whitish spot beyond the apex of the cell on the same wing; in some specimens this spot is slightly diffuse. Underside: pale, silky, brownish white; forewings and hindwings crossed by numerous, very slender, short, sinuous, transverse, dark brown strigae which are outwardly slenderly edged with brownish white of a shade paler than that of the ground colour; both wings with an anticiliary dark brown line with on the inner side a similar edging. Forewing, in addition, with an oval white spot beyond the cell. Cilia of both forewings and hindwings of the same shade as the ground colour of the wings. Antenna, head, thorax and abdomen pale brown, club of antennae ochraceous at apex; beneath: the palpi and thorax brownish grey, abdomen pale brown.

Female

Upperside: slightly paler brown. Forewing: the cell and apex darker; a white spot similar to that in the male but larger, beyond the apex of the cell; in most specimens extended diffusely outwards and downwards. Hindwing: similar to that of the male. Underside: precisely as in the male.^[2]

• 
  Apefly with part of upper forewing visible
• 
  Apefly from Salugara forest, North Bengal
• 
  Apefly from Wayanad perched upside down on a twig
• 
  Upperside of specimen from Malaya

Life cycle

• 
  Apefly second instar caterpillar
• 
  Third instar caterpillar
• 
  Final instar caterpillar
• 
  Pupa
• 
  Head on view of pupa showing the ape face resemblance
• 
  Freshly eclosed apefly butterfly

The caterpillars of this butterfly, like other members of the subfamily Miletinae, are entomophagous and are predators of scale insects.^[3] The species unlike many other lycaenid butterflies is not myrmecophilous.^[4]

Subspecies

• S. e. epius (India, Sri Lanka to Peninsular Malaya, Nicobars, Mergui and southern Yunnan)
• S. e. dilama (Moore, 1878) (Taiwan)
• S. e. fangola (Kheil, 1884) (Sumatra, Nias, possibly Borneo)
• S. e. nubilus Moore, [1884] (Andamans, Pulau Tioman)
• S. e. pharnus Felder, 1860 (Kai, Buru, Ambon, Halmahera, West Irian)
• S. e. semperi Fruhstorfer, 1919 (northern Philippines, Luzon)
• S. e. strigatus Semper, 1889 (southern to central Philippines)
• S. e. substrigata (Snellen, 1878) (Sulawesi)
• S. e. titius Fruhstorfer, 1919 (Java, Bali, Sumba, Sumbawa, possibly Damar and Lombok)

Cited references

1. Page on Markku Savela's site for genus Spalgis (Lycaenidae).
2. Bingham, C.T. (1907). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. II (1st ed.). London: Taylor and Francis, Ltd.
3. Venkatesha, M. G., L. Shashikumar, S.S.Gayathri Devi (2004) Protective devices of the carnivorous butterfly, Spalgis epius (Westwood) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) Current Science 87(5): 571-572 PDF
4. Venkatesha, M. G. (2005) Why is homopterophagous butterfly, Spalgis epius (Westwood) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) amyrmecophilous? Current Science 89(2):245-246 PDF

See also

• List of butterflies of India (Lycaenidae)

References

• Evans, W.H. (1932). The Identification of Indian Butterflies (2nd ed.). Mumbai, India: Bombay Natural History Society.
• Gaonkar, Harish (1996). Butterflies of the Western Ghats, India (including Sri Lanka) - A Biodiversity Assessment of a Threatened Mountain System. Bangalore, India: Centre for Ecological Sciences.
• Haribal, Meena (1992). The Butterflies of Sikkim Himalaya and Their Natural History. Gangtok, Sikkim, India: Sikkim Nature Conservation Foundation.
• Kunte, Krushnamegh (2000). Butterflies of Peninsular India. India, A Lifescape. Hyderabad, India: Universities Press. ISBN 978-8173713545.
• Wynter-Blyth, Mark Alexander (1957). Butterflies of the Indian Region. Bombay, India: Bombay Natural History Society. ISBN 978-8170192329.

External links

• Asahi Correctly determined photos of Spalgis epius