Friends in my garden- 71

Two lovely butterflies

Little orange tip

See these beautiful friends in my garden.
Colotis etrida, the Little orange tip, is a species of butterfly native to Indian subcontinent. From the pattern of the patches on the upper part of the wings, I presume the first picture shows a female butterfly. She is a real beauty, isn’t it?
The second picture is taken against the backlight.
The Lime blue butterfly, Chilades lajus, is a small butterfly found in India and Southeast Asia.
It is fairly common and can be seen both in forested areas as well as in gardens near human habitation.
The males have a more bluish colour on the upper side of the wings, as seen here. Females have more brownish wings. Both males and females have similar colour and patterns on the ventral side.

Against backlight

Lime blue butterfly

Lime blue-Ventral side

Friends in my garden- 68

An Assortment of Butterflies

Blue tiger butterfly

Today, let us enjoy the beauty of these butterflies.
The common names of some of these butterflies may be funny. These are delicate critters, and the name ‘tiger’ is a misnomer, as far as common people like us are concerned.
Blue tiger butterflies (Tirumala limniace) are migratory in nature. Here, it is feeding on a Periwinkle flower in my garden.
This Plain tiger butterfly (Danaus chrysippus) is a male, identifiable due to the presence of a white pouch. This pouch is seen on the underside of the hind wings in a black patch.
The Common crow butterflies (Euploea core) have dull brown wings with white spots.
Great eggfly or Common eggfly (Hypolimnas bolina) is seen feeding on sandalwood flowers, behind my house. In males wings are black or dark brown with white marks. Females are colourful.

Plain tiger butterfly

Common crow butterfly

Great eggfly

Friends in my garden- 61

Two Butterflies

Lime butterfly

This time, two butterflies! These beauties were captured in my garden. Easy to shoot, as they are generally fond of enjoying the morning sunlight.

Lime butterfly (Papilio demoleus) is also known as Lemon butterfly and is a common visitor in gardens wherever the host plants of the species, Citrus plants, are cultivated. No wonder they are regular visitors in my garden! The common names suggest their host plant on which the life cycle is completed. Those who are interested can have a look at the stages of LIFE CYCLE that I captured in my garden.

Lemon pansy

Lemon pansy (Junonia lemonias) is a common species found in a wide variety of habitats and is distributed across India. It can be commonly seen in gardens, parks and wastelands.
The butterflies are usually seen in twos and threes, either basking on low foliage, or nectaring on flowers.
Though not brightly coloured, Lemon pansies are very beautiful with lovely designs on the wings. These butterflies do not use Citrus plants as their host plant.

Friends in my garden- 59

Butterflies of Nymphalidae

Neptis hylas

I have two butterflies here.
They look similar due to the wing designs, but are different. Maybe, we can say they are related as both belong to the same family, Nymphalidae.
The one with white markings on brown is Common sailor butterfly (Neptis hylas). This is a common species seen in Indian subcontinent. Here you can see the butterfly feeding on sandalwood flowers, on a tree behind my house.

Butterfly with orange markings is Common lascar butterfly (Pantoporia hordonia). It’s distribution in India is from the Himalayas to the Western Ghats.
The adults would typically open their wings fully when perching.
This is captured from my backyard.

Pantoporia hordonia