Thaduka multicaudata

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Panorpida
Cladus: Amphiesmenoptera
Ordo: Lepidoptera
Subordo: Glossata
Cladus: Coelolepida
Cladus: Myoglossata
Cladus: Neolepidoptera
Infraordo: Heteroneura
Cladus: Eulepidoptera
Cladus: Ditrysia
Cladus: Apoditrysia
Cladus: Obtectomera
Superfamilia: Papilionoidea

Familia: Lycaenidae
Subfamilia: Theclinae
Tribus: Arhopalini
Genus: Thaduka
Species: Thaduka multicaudata
Subspecies: T. m. kanara – T. m. multicaudata
Name

Thaduka multicaudata Moore, [1879].

Type locality: S. Burma, Taoo.

Holotype: ♀ BMNH.
Synonymy

Thaduka multicaudata Moore, [1879]:836, pl.5, fig.7; Bethune-Baker, 1903: 24, pl.4 figs 5, 5a genit.

References

Bethune-Baker, G. T. 1903. A revision of the Amblypodia group of butterflies of the family Lycaenidae. Transactions of the Zoological Society of London 17(1): 3–164, 5 pls. text, plates. Reference page.
Moore, F. [1879]. A list of the Lepidopterous insects collected by Mr. Ossian Limborg in Upper Tenasserim with descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1878(4): 821–859, pls. 51–53. Reference page.

Thaduka is a genus of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae, the blues. It is monotypic, containing only the species Thaduka multicaudata, the many-tailed oak-blue,[1][2] which is found in India, Burma and Indochina.[2][1][3]
Description
For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

Male. Upperside black, with the basal area smalt-blue or silvery-blue, otherwise the colour of the wings is blue with very broad black borders covering all but the basal, discoidal and sub-median areas. Cilia and tails also black. Underside, dark vinous-brown. Forewing with the outer half and lower portions paler, three blue spots in the basal half of the cell, a larger one at the end with a brown dot inside it, a discal band of six separate square spots, from the costa to vein 2, the first two outwardly oblique, the third outside them, the next three, a little on the inner side of each other, a sub-marginal series of acutely angled marks. Hindwing generally darker than the forewing, with three outwardly curved irregular bands of separated spots with pale edges, ante-medial, medial and discal, often very indistinct; anal area with some bronzy or bluish scales, and a few similar scales near the base and sometimes on other portions of the wing.

Female, like the male above and beneath, but on the upperside the blue area is generally paler and less silvery, on the underside the wing is not quite so dark, especially the lower portion of the forewing, the markings are more distinct, and the blue scalings on the hindwing more numerous. Antennae black; palpi black above, the two basal joints grey beneath; head and body black above, brown beneath.
— Charles Swinhoe, Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. VIII[3]

References

R.K., Varshney; Smetacek, Peter (2015). A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India. New Delhi: Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing, New Delhi. pp. 107–108. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164. ISBN 978-81-929826-4-9.
"Thaduka Moore, 1878" at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
Public Domain One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Swinhoe, Charles (1910–1911). Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. VIII. London: Lovell Reeve and Co. p. 143.