
Subspecies in India
(1) Phalanta alcippe mercea (Evans, 1924) – Sahyadri Small Leopard
(2) Phalanta alcippe alcippoides (Moore, [1900]) – Himalayan Small Leopard
(3) Phalanta alcippe andamana (Fruhstorfer, 1904) – Andaman Small Leopard
(4) Phalanta alcippe fraterna (Moore, [1900]) – Nicobar Small Leopard
This species is legally protected in India under Schedule II of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
(2) Phalanta alcippe alcippoides (Moore, [1900]) – Himalayan Small Leopard
(3) Phalanta alcippe andamana (Fruhstorfer, 1904) – Andaman Small Leopard
(4) Phalanta alcippe fraterna (Moore, [1900]) – Nicobar Small Leopard

Photo Gallery and Species Biology

State | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | No date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 | ||||||
Andhra Pradesh | |||||||||||||
Arunachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
Assam | 1 | 2 | |||||||||||
Bihar | |||||||||||||
Chandigarh | |||||||||||||
Chhattisgarh | |||||||||||||
Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT | |||||||||||||
Daman & Diu UT | |||||||||||||
Delhi | |||||||||||||
Goa | 1 | ||||||||||||
Gujarat | |||||||||||||
Haryana | |||||||||||||
Himachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
Jammu and Kashmir UT | |||||||||||||
Jharkhand | |||||||||||||
Karnataka | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
Kerala | 6 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 2 | |||||||
Ladakh UT | |||||||||||||
Lakshadweep | |||||||||||||
Madhya Pradesh | |||||||||||||
Maharashtra | |||||||||||||
Manipur | |||||||||||||
Meghalaya | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | |||||||||
Mizoram | |||||||||||||
Nagaland | |||||||||||||
Odisha | |||||||||||||
Puducherry UT | |||||||||||||
Punjab | |||||||||||||
Rajasthan | |||||||||||||
Sikkim | |||||||||||||
Tamil Nadu | |||||||||||||
Tripura | |||||||||||||
Uttar Pradesh | |||||||||||||
Uttarakhand | |||||||||||||
West Bengal | 2 | ||||||||||||
Total | 7 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 4 | 2 |
Rinorea bengalensis (V.C. Balakrishnan pers. obs. 2017), Rinorea zeylanica (Wynter-Blyth 1957; Kunte 2000; Robinson et al. 2010) (Violaceae).
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, 10:11495–11550.
For the complete list of larval host plants of Indian butterflies, see the page on larval host plants.
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, 10:11495–11550.
For the complete list of larval host plants of Indian butterflies, see the page on larval host plants.
Page citation
Kunte, K. and K. Saji 2025. Phalanta alcippe (Stoll, [1782]) – Small Leopard. 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/phalanta-alcippe, accessed 2025/02/13.