Doi Suthep-Pui NP, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Order : Lepidoptera
Family : Lycaenidae
Subfamily : Polyommatinae
Genus : Castalius
Species : Castalius rosimon rosimon
Distributed from Sri Lanka, through India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It is a small butterfly with a wingspan of 25-32mm. Habitat is forest glades, woodland edges, stream valleys, and domestic flower gardens up to around 1000m asl. They are very fast and acrobatic fliers and zip about with great speed. Both sexes nectar on low-lying flowers such as Tridax sp.and the males are frequent visitors to damp ground for puddling. When settled they usually hold their wings tightly closed and rarely open their wings fully.
The adults fly all year round and are multivoltine. The female lays her eggs singly on the underside of leaves on the host plant. Larval foodplants include Zizyphus jujuba, Zizyphus mauritiana, Zizyphus oenoplia, Zizyphus rugosa, and Paliurus ramosissimus (Rhamnaceae). The entire lifecycle from egg to adult is relatively quick taking just around 21-25 days.
All my insect pics are single, handheld shots of live insects in wild situations.
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