Celaenorrhinus putra (Moore, [1866]) - Restricted Spotted Flat

Subspecies in India

(1) Celaenorrhinus putra putra (Moore, [1866]) – Bengal Restricted Spotted Flat
 

Conservation and Special status

This species is not legally protected in India under any schedules of WildLife (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022 ('WPAA').

Photo Gallery and Species Biology

Historically, Celaenorrhinus putra was known to range from E. Himalaya and NE India east- and southeastward to Myanmar, Indo-China and SE Asia (Evans 1949; Inayoshi 2014). Since 2008, there have been a number of photographic records of this species from Amboli in southern Maharashtra and Dandeli in Uttara Kannada District of northern Karnataka southward to central Kerala in the Western Ghats, ca 1,500 to 2,000 km away from the previously known range of the species. It was only in 2013 that we were able to confirm the identity of the species by comparing male genitalia. The following images representing these records, published on this website on 13 April 2014, now formally extend the range of this species to the Western Ghats: (1) Male from Netravali WLS, South Goa District, 2010/10/30, by Milind Bhakare (BOI au579), (2) Male from Kakkayam, Kozhikode District, Kerala, 2013/02/21, by K. Saji (BOI ax403 and BOI ax404), (3) same as no. 2, presumably a female, on 2013/03/21 (BOI ax405).
 
These numerous records over the past six years, and the early stages studied by K. Saji on three occasions, also confirm that the species has stable, breeding populations of the species from northern to southern Western Ghats.

This species is common.

StateJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecNo date
Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT
Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh411
Assam11
Bihar
Chandigarh
Chhattisgarh
Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT
Daman & Diu UT
Delhi
Goa11
Gujarat
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir UT
Jharkhand
Karnataka
Kerala24341241
Ladakh UT
Lakshadweep
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra21361913
Manipur
Meghalaya13
Mizoram
Nagaland
Odisha
Puducherry UT
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim1111
Tamil Nadu1
Telangana
Tripura
Uttar Pradesh
Uttarakhand
West Bengal111
Total367731592953

Eranthemum roseum, Strobilanthes ciliata (=Nilgirianthus ciliatus) (Acanthaceae).

For the complete list of larval host plants of Indian butterflies, see the page on larval host plants.

BOI-pqn349 BOI-pqn350 BOI-pqh501 BOI-pqh502 BOI-pqh503 BOI-ppv783 BOI-pnz921 BOI-pnw638 BOI-pnw012 as221 fv249 fh705 fh706 ah377 BOI-ppv754 , BOI-ppv755 BOI-pny642 , BOI-pny643 bs457 , bs456 bm977 , bm976 , bm975 fv248 , fv247 , fv246

Evans, W. H. 1949. A Catalogue of the Hesperiidae from Europe, Asia, and Australia in the British Museum (Natural History). British Museum of Natural History, London.

Inayoshi, Y. 2014. A Check List of Butterflies in Indo-China, Chiefly from Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. http://yutaka.it-n.jp/hes/90480010.html, accessed 2014/04/13.

Key Reference:
Nitin, R., V. C. Balakrishnan, P. V. Churi, S. Kalesh, S. Prakash, and K. Kunte. 2018. Larval host plants of the butterflies of the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 10(4): 11495–11550.

Page citation

Tadse, S., and K. Kunte. 2026. Celaenorrhinus putra (Moore, [1866]) – Restricted Spotted Flat. 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/celaenorrhinus-putra, accessed 2026/06/04.