Burara jaina explained

Burara jaina, the orange awlet,^[1] is a species of hesperid butterfly found in Asia. The butterfly was reassigned to the genus Burara by Vane-Wright and de Jong (2003), and is considered Burara jaina by them.^{[2] [3]}

Range

The orange awlet is found in India, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.^{[4] [1]}

In India, this butterfly is found in the Western Ghats and the Himalayas from Garhwal (Mussoorie) to Sikkim and Assam eastwards to Myanmar.^{[5] [1]}

The type locality is Darjeeling in West Bengal, India.^[1]

Status

It is fairly common in Kodagu and Thenmala but rare elsewhere in India.

Description

Both sexes: The butterfly, which has a wingspan of 60 to 70 mm, is a dark vinaceous (colour of red wine) brown above. The forewing has an orange costal streak from the base above the cell to about halfway along the wing, while the hindwing has an orange fringe. The butterfly is paler below and has orange bands along the veins of the hindwing.^[6]

Male: The male may have an indistinct dark brand placed centrally on the forewing above, between mid 1b to vein 3.^[6]

Edward Yerbury Watson (1891) gives a detailed description, shown below:

Habits

The orange-striped awl is an insect of the low foothills with dense jungles and heavy rainfall. It is rarely seen out of such terrain. Crepuscular in nature, it flies early in the mornings or late in the evenings. It has strong, fast and straight flight. It is best seen in ravines and nullahs. It hovers at leaves and visits Lantana and other attractive flowers.^{[3] [6]}

Host plants

The larva has been recorded on Hiptage benghalensis and Combretum latifolium.^{[7] [1]}

See also

• Coeliadinae
• Hesperiidae
• List of butterflies of India (Coeliadinae)
• List of butterflies of India (Hesperiidae)

References

Print

• Book: Evans . W.H. . William Harry Evans . The Identification of Indian Butterflies . 2nd . Mumbai, India . . 1932 .
• Watson, E. Y. (1891) Hesperiidae indicae. Vest and Co. Madras.
• Book: Wynter-Blyth, Mark Alexander . Mark Alexander Wynter-Blyth . Butterflies of the Indian Region . 1957 . Bombay, India . . 978-8170192329 .

Online

• Web site: The Global Lepidoptera Names Index (LepIndex) . Beccaloni . George . Scoble . Malcolm . Kitching . Ian . Simonsen . Thomas . Robinson . Gaden . Pitkin . Brian . Hine . Adrian . Lyal . Chris . Natural History Museum, London . 2016-10-15 .
• Brower, Andrew V. Z. and Warren, Andrew, (2007). Coeliadinae Evans 1937. Version 21 February 2007 (temporary). http://tolweb.org/Coeliadinae/12150/2007.02.21 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/
• Web site: Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera .

Notes and References

1. Markku Savela's website on Lepidoptera. Page on genus Bibasis.
2. Vane-Wright. R. I.. de Jong. R.. 2003. The butterflies of Sulawesi: annotated checklist for a critical island fauna. Zoologische Verhandelingen. 343. 3–267.
3. Vane-Wright and de Jong (2003) (see TOL web pages on genus Bibasis genus Burara in the Tree of Life Web Project) state that Bibasis contains just three diurnal species, the crepuscular remainder having been removed to Burara. The species now shifted to Burara are morphologically and behaviorally distinct from Bibasis, within which many authors have formerly included them.
4. Web site: Burara jaina jaina (Moore,[1866])]. Inayoshi. Yutaka. Butterflies in Indo-China.
5. Book: A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India. R.K.. Varshney. Smetacek. Peter. Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing, New Delhi. 2015. 978-81-929826-4-9. New Delhi. 24. 10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164.
6. Book: Wynter-Blyth, Mark Alexander . Mark Alexander Wynter-Blyth . Butterflies of the Indian Region . 1957 . Bombay, India . . 978-8170192329 . 468–469 .
7. 2018-04-10. Larval host plants of the buterfies of the Western Ghats, India. Ravikanthachari Nitin. V.C. Balakrishnan. Paresh V. Churi. S. Kalesh. Satya Prakash. Krushnamegh Kunte. Journal of Threatened Taxa. 10 . 4. 11502. JoTT. 10.11609/jott.3104.10.4.11495-11550. free.