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Himalayan Purple Saphire

Heliophorus epicles latilimbata

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27.329, 88.6123

Field Notes

Habitat:

Paddy field. Hot place. Altitude about 1,000m.

Notes:

This also is a Safire, however this one has red ribbon also along the edge of the fore wings, unlike the earlier spottings which have the red ribbon only along the edge of the rare wings. The altitude they were spotted were some 2,000m apart.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (10)
DrNamgyalTSherpa
Thanks Reza, Rob, AprilPerry, LuckyLogan, Student, Fyn Kynd, outsidegirl0, Billo, venusflytrap2000, Marta, rams4D and Dilan for making it favourite.
DrNamgyalTSherpa
Thanks Daniele and Rob for the lead. This specimen just matches Daniele's ref. In fact, one Krushnamegh Kunte, 2011, had spotted this specimen some 70km away at Rongli (not Rangli), East Sikkim. So we'll go with Daniele's ref of Kunte: Himalayan epicles latilimbata.
RobThacker
Hi Dr, It was kind of a tentative possibly, yours is found at the same elevation as my spottings, this I find interesting.
DanielePralong
Hi Rob! Heliophorus ila doesn't appear on the list of Indian butterflies. EOL also doesn't map it there: http://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/home http://eol.org/pages/260602/maps
RobThacker
Hi Dr, Lycaenidae, Heliophorus, possibly Heliophorus ila Have seen a few here (Northern Thailand) over the past couple of weeks, not got around to posting yet. http://www.thaibugs.com/wp-content/gallery/lycaenid1/Heliophorus%20ila.jpg https://www.flickr.com/photos/bingo5899/13981622838/ http://www.pbase.com/image/102371683
DanielePralong
Hi Dr. Sherpa! I think the markings on this butterfly make it a Purple Sapphire (Heliophorus epicles) or a Dark Sapphire (Heliophorus indicus), not a Golden Sapphire. There's also a similar Kohima Sapphire (Heliophorus kohimensis). See for yourself and see what others say: http://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/#!/sp/789/Heliophorus-brahma http://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/#!/sp/728/Heliophorus-epicles http://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/#!/sp/1114/Heliophorus-indicus http://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/#!/sp/1130/Heliophorus-kohimensis

Spotted for Missions

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Butterflies & Moths of the World
Mission
Arthropods of North East India
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ButterflyIndia
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National Geographic's Great Nature Project
Mission
2014 Best Wildlife Photo

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Photographed
PublishedMay 29, 2014

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