By: Jatishwor Singh Irungbam
Callerebia suroia Tytler, 1914 is a rare butterfly belongs to family Nymphalidae, subfamily Satyrinae. In India, the butterfly is only reported from Manipur (Varshney & Smetacek 2015) and appears to be restricted to the higher hills of Manipur and Nagaland. Outside India, the butterfly is reported from NW Myanmar (Talbot 1947); Dali, Kunming at Yunnan Province of CHina (Okano & Okano 1985; Huang 2003) and N Vietnam (Inoyashi 2016). Tytler (1914) remarks specimen in July fresh and in August worn. The remotest of habitat and the flight period (in the monsoon), may mean this species is easily overlooked.
Taxonomic position
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Subfamily:
Satyrinae
Genus: Callerebia
Species: suroia Tytler, 1914
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| Figure 1. Open wing posture of Callerebia suroia (Photo by: Harmenn Huidrom) |
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| Figure 2. Closed wing posture of Callerebia suroia (Photo by: Harmenn Huidrom) |
Habitat & Habits:
The
butterfly prefers open habitat with naturally occurring rocks. Please refer
Irungbam et al. (2017).
Food
Plants:
The
food plants of the butterfly larvae needs to be investigated. The adults are
seen frequently visited on the flowers of the plant Taraxacum sp. [Family: Asteraceae]. The butterflies were also
attracted to mud, faeces and organic wastes dumped by tourists (food and fruit
skin) (Shaoji 2009).
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| Figure 3. Habitat of Callerebia suroia Tytler, 1914 at Shirui Hills, Manipur (Photo by: Baleshwor Soibam) |
Sightings in Manipur:
The butterfly is very rare and local.
The butterfly was sighted recently from Shirui Hills on 13 July 2016 at the altitude
2330m (Irungbam 2017).
References:
Huang, H. (2003). A list of butterflies collected from Nujiang (Lou Tse Kiang) and
Dulongiang, China with descriptions of new species, and revisional notes. Neue
Entomologische Nachrichten 55: 3–114.
Okano, M. & T. Okano (1985). New or Little known Callerebias from China
(Lepidoptera: Satyrinae). Artes Liberales 36: 157–160+1pl.
Talbot, G. (1947). The Fauna of British India, including Ceylone and Burma: Butterflies.
Vol. 2. Taylor and Francis, London, 486pp.
Tytler, H.C. (1914). Notes on some new and interesting butterflies from Manipur and the Naga
Hills. Part-I. Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 23: 216–229+1pl.
Irungbam, J.S., H. Huidrom & B.S. Soibam (2017). A century later the Manipur Argus
Callerebia suroia Tytler, 1914 (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Satyrinae) recorded
in its type locality in Manipur, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 9(2):
9866–9869; http://doi.org/10.11609/jott.2931.9.2.9866-9869
Shaoji, H. (2009). Preliminary field survey of butterflies on Xishan Hill (Kunming, Yunnan Province,
China). Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera, 41: 60-69.
Varshney, R. K. & P. Smetacek. (2015). A synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies
of India. Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal and Indinov Publishing, New Delhi,
ii + 261 pp., 8 pl.
