Cigaritis zhengweilie Huang, 1998 - Contiguous Silverline

Subspecies in India

(1) Cigaritis zhengweilie chayuensis Huang, 2001 – Chayu Contiguous Silverline

Taxonomic Information

This species is sometimes listed under the genus Spindasis. Recent phylogenetic work shows Spindasis to be embedded within Cigaritis, so this species is now listed under Cigaritis.

Photo Gallery and Species Biology

Not known.
 

This species was earlier known only from SE Tibet (Mêdog County and Chayu County). The Indian distribution is based on Purnendu Roy's record from Anini, Upper Dibang Valley District, eastern Arunachal Pradesh, on 1987/07/28, and Krushnamegh Kunte's record from the Eaglenest WLS, West Kameng District, western Arunachal Pradesh, on 2015/06/25 (BOI-bu684 and BOI-bu685), reported here on 2015/08/15. The species has subsequently been recorded in Bhutan, and in Arunachal Pradesh from West Kameng to Siang Districts.

The pale yellow ground colour, thick black-edged silver bands makes this species superficially similar to S. syama and S. elwesi, however the lowest post-basal spot on the hindwing is connected by a black streak that is continuous to the wing base. The club shaped mark at the base of the forewing in S. syama consists of a single streak and not a spot and streak as in S. zhengweilie and S. elwesi.
This species is probably more closely allied to S. rukma, S. nipalicus, S. rukmini and S. evansii,  however the underside ground colour, thick black-edged bands with little or no colour between the silver and black edges separates this species from those species.
Both the male and female of S. zhengweilie lack any sign of a red patch on the upper forewing and this also distinguishes this species from S. elwesi, S. nipalicus (males may lack red markings occasionally) and S. rukma.

Appears to be local but common in forested areas of Arunachal Pradesh during the monsoon.
 
StateJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecNo date
Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT
Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh1
Assam
Bihar
Chandigarh
Chhattisgarh
Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT
Daman & Diu UT
Delhi
Goa
Gujarat
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir UT
Jharkhand
Karnataka
Kerala
Ladakh UT
Lakshadweep
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Manipur
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland
Odisha
Puducherry UT
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu
Tripura
Uttar Pradesh
Uttarakhand
West Bengal
Total1
Not known.
 

Huang, H. 1998. New Lycaenidae butterflies from the Tsangpo basin, S.E. Tibet. Supplement to "Research on the butterflies of the Namjagbarwa Region, S.E. Tibet" (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Lambillionea 98/4:499-508.
Huang, H. 2001. Report of H. Huang's 2000 expedition to SE. Tibet for Rhopalocera (Insecta, Lepidoptera).  Neue Entomologische Nachrichten 51:65-151.

Page citation

Kunte, K. 2024. Cigaritis zhengweilie Huang, 1998 – Contiguous Silverline. In Kunte, K., S. Sondhi, and P. Roy (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 4.12. Published by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies. URL: https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/Cigaritis-zhengweilie, accessed 2024/12/05.