Subject - The Plains Cupid (Luthrodes pandava)
Long afternoon walks are the best thing to happen to raccoon-eyed college students who have taken to living in the library. Especially if you are intercepted by these pretty sights; they flit about in the bushes, and dance nimbly on the slender stalks of coatbuttons, and overall, make a torrid summer more bearable.
A male wet season brood
These butterflies belong to the Lycaenidae family (tribe Polyommatini) of butterflies, (the second-largest family of butterflies behind Nymphalidae, or the brush footed butterflies), whose members are called gossamer-winged butterflies.
This is one of the few species of lycaenids to feed on cycads, earning it the name cycad blue.
Quick guide to Identification
Two orange eyespots are clearly evident on the closed wings in Plains cupids. One of the most objective characteristics is the presence in L. pandava of a line of four dark spots arranged in a circumferential arc near the base of the under side of the hindwing, unlike in other species like the gram blue. The black spot on interspace 2 is comparatively larger, are crowned by ochre.
Underside of female is as in the male, but the markings are slightly larger and more clearly defined. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen are same as in the male but slightly paler.
Host Plant and Behaviour
The most common host plant is Cycas revoluta. The larvae have been reported in April and May in Calcutta, on the cultivated cycads in gardens, eating the hardly opened shoots or fronds, thereby utterly destroying the appearance of the plant for the year. However the pupae are extremely difficult to find because of a phenomenon called myrmecophily.
The butterfly lays eggs on nascent fronds of Cycas on which the emerging larvae feed. This severely affects the growth of the plant. The larvae of C. pandava have been observed to be associated with more than one genus of ants and the association is considered of the mutualistic type.
Larvae secrete nectar in the presence of ants on which the latter feed. And, in response to this food provisioning service, larvae are not only exempted from attack by ants, but are also protected from other predators by the latter. Pupae are really hard to find and it is suspected that ants drive the full-grown larvae down the stems of the plants into their nests, where the larvae undergo their transformations.
Early instar being tended to by ants
Mating Behaviour
Plains Cupids have been shown to spend maximum time on basking and in courtship rituals.
!(/home/thepiedpiper/thepiedpieper.github.io/thepiedpieper/assets/unnamed.jpg) Mating in plains cupids
“Fight to mate” behaviour is observed in this species, like other Lycaenids; several males will try to mate with a female; however only one succeeds in mating.
Status
This species has extended its range from the peninsular regions due to the introduction of its host plants (Cycads) to new areas, and is even a serious pest in some parts of the world.
The author wishes every reader happy walks.