Neptis columella

Common Sailer
	Underside (specimen from Kolkata)
	Upperside (specimen from the Western Ghats)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Neptis
Species:	N. columella
Binomial name
	Neptis columella; (Cramer, 1780)

The Short banded Sailer, Neptis columella is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in South Asia and Southeast Asia.

Description

Upperside black, with white markings. Forewing: discoidal streak widening towards apex, notched preapically on the anterior margin and obliquely truncate at apex; spot beyond large, broadly triangular, well separated; discal spots in pairs varying in size, spot of this series in interspace 1 always an elongate; spots in transverse postdiscal series obscure, not all well defined, margined on both sides with deeper black than that of the ground colour; the space between the series and the discal spots and also the terminal margin beyond it with obscure trans verse pale markings. Hindwing: costal margin broadly greyish brown; subbasal band not extending to the costa, of varying width; discal and sub-terminal pale transverse lines, the space between them darker than the ground colour, traversed by a prominent series of postdiscal spots of varying size. Cilia white alternating with black. Underside ferruginous brown; white markings as on the upperside but broader; the pale markings between the discal and postdiscal series of spots, the subterminal markings on the upperside of the forewing, and the discal and subterminal pale lines on the upperside of the hindwing represented by pale lunular transverse whitish markings. The costal margin of the hindwing above vein 8 very broad, especially in the female. Antennae dark brown to black; head, thorax and abdomen dark brownish black; beneath white.^[1]

Distribution

Western and Southern India, recorded from Mahabaleshwar near Bombay, and the Nilgiris; Sikkim, Bhutan, through the hills of Assam, Myanmar and Tenasserim to the Malay Peninsula, Siam and Sumatra.

Gallery

on a Chalta Dillenia indica leaf in Kolkata, West Bengal, India
In Kolkata, West Bengal, India

References

^ Bingham, C.T. (1905). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma Butterflies. Vol. 1 (1st ed.). London: Taylor and Francis, Ltd.

[bingham-1] Bingham, C.T. (1905). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma Butterflies. Vol. 1 (1st ed.). London: Taylor and Francis, Ltd.

[1]