Darpa pteria Hewitson, 1868 - Snowy Angle

Subspecies in India

(1) Darpa pteria dealbata Distant, 1886 – Small Snowy Angle

Photo Gallery and Species Biology

Not known in India, but the life cycle has been studied in some detail in Indo-China and SE Asia (Igarashi and Haruo 2000).

The nominotypical subspecies occurs in the Philippines, and the subspecies dealbata occurs from Assam in NE India to Myanmar, Indo-China, Malay Peninsula, Tioman, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Palawan (Evans 1949). It is rare throughout its range, and was known in India only from a single, very old record from Assam (Evans 1949; Swinhoe 1912-1913). The sighting from Jeypore-Dehing in Dibrugarh District of Assam on 26 April 2011, reported here by S. Karthikeyan and Vidya Venkatesh, appears to be only the second record for this subspecies from India. This record is also available on S. Karthikeyan's blog. Several recent sightings are known from Indo-China and SE Asia (Igarashi and Haruo 2000).

StateJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecNo date
Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT
Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Assam6
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
Total6

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

Igarashi, S. and F. Haruo. 2000. The Life Histories of Asian Butterflies. Vol. II. Tokai University Press, Tokyo.

Swinhoe, C. 1912-1913. Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. X. Rhopalocera. Family Hesperiidae (concluded). Sub-families Celaenorrhinae, Hesperiinae, Pamphilinae, Astictopterinae, Suastinae, Erionotinae, Matapinae, Notocryptinae, Plastingiinae, Erynninae. Reeve & Co, London.

Page citation

Karthikeyan, S. and V. Venkatesh 2024. Darpa pteria Hewitson, 1868 – Snowy Angle. 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/darpa-pteria, accessed 2024/10/14.