PLATINUM The Journal of Threatened Taxa (JoTT) is dedicated to building evidence for conservaton globally by publishing peer-reviewed artcles OPEN ACCESS online every month at a reasonably rapid rate at www.threatenedtaxa.org. All artcles published in JoTT are registered under Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License unless otherwise mentoned. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of artcles in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton. Journal of Threatened Taxa Building evidence for conservaton globally www.threatenedtaxa.org ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) Short Communication A first complete documentation of the early stages of Hampson’s Hedge Blue Acytolepis lilacea lilacea Hampson, 1889 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) from Western Ghats, Kerala, India V.K. Chandrasekharan & Muhamed Jafer Palot 26 September 2020 | Vol. 12 | No. 13 | Pages: 16861–16867 DOI: 10.11609/jot.5425.12.13.16861-16867 For Focus, Scope, Aims, Policies, and Guidelines visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-0 For Artcle Submission Guidelines, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions For Policies against Scientfc Misconduct, visit htps://threatenedtaxa.org/index.php/JoTT/about/editorialPolicies#custom-2 For reprints, contact <[email protected]> The opinions expressed by the authors do not refect the views of the Journal of Threatened Taxa, Wildlife Informaton Liaison Development Society, Zoo Outreach Organizaton, or any of the partners. The journal, the publisher, the host, and the part- Publisher & Host ners are not responsible for the accuracy of the politcal boundaries shown in the maps by the authors. Member Threatened Taxa Journal of Threatened Taxa | www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 September 2020 | 12(13): 16861–16867 ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print) PLATINUM OPEN ACCESS DOI: htps://doi.org/10.11609/jot.5425.12.13.16861-16867 #5425 | Received 25 September 2019 | Final received 01 September 2020 | Finally accepted 11 September 2020 S H O A frst complete documentaton of the early stages of R T Hampson’s Hedge Blue Acytolepis lilacea lilacea Hampson, 1889 C o (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) from Western Ghats, Kerala, India m m 1 2 u V.K. Chandrasekharan & Muhamed Jafer Palot n i 1 Kaniv [Kalathil], Edakkulam Post, Koyilandy, Kerala 673306, India. c 2 a Zoological Survey of India, Western Regional Centre, Pune, Maharashtra 411044, India. t 1 [email protected], 2 [email protected] (corresponding author) i o n Abastract: This is the frst complete documentaton of the early stages the others are from the Indomalayan and Australasian of Acytolepis lilacea lilacea, the subspecies from southern India, realm. Acytolepis lilacea, Hampson, 1889 (Hampson’s with the frst record of the larval host plant Cycas circinalis, and a comparison with the early stages of Acytolepis puspa felderi Toxopeus, Hedge Blue or Lilac Hedge Blue) is a lesser known 1927, a sympatric and similar species, highlightng the notable buterfy under the subfamily Polyommatnae of tribe diferences. The signifcant diferences noted in the early stages of Acytolepis lilacea lilacea with that of A. puspa are the diference in Polyommatni and has a recorded distributon in southern ornamentaton of eggs, more fufy, blue shaded and less hairy larvae India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. and more elongated pupae. No previous record of the early stages of There are three subspecies of Acytolepis lilacea in the any of the subspecies of Acytolepis lilacea Hampson, 1889 is available. Preliminary observatons regarding the fight period and seasonal world. The distributon record of A.l. lilacea, Hampson, varriatons of Acytolepis lilacea lilacea, from Parambikulam Tiger 1889 is from southern India, A.l. moorie, Toxopeus, 1926 Reserve, Kerala, India, are also presented. is known from Sri Lanka, and A.l. indochinensis, Eliot & Keywords: Acytolepis lilacea lilacea, Cycas circinalis, early stages, Kawazoe, 1983 is widely distributed in Laos, Vietnam, larval host plant, Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, Western Ghats. Myanmar, and Thailand. Acytolepis lilacea lilacea was described by Hampson in 1889 from the southern slopes of Nilgiris (914m), Acytolepis Toxopeus, is a small genus of lycaenid Western Ghats, India as Cynaris puspa var. lilacea. Afer buterfies under the Lycaenopsis group, represented by this, sometmes it was treated as a separate species fve species in the world, viz: A. puspa (Horsfeld, 1828), (Bingham, 1907; Swinhoe, 1910; Evans 1932) and later A. lilacea (Hampson, 1889), A. najara (Fruhstorfer, 1910), as a subspecies of Acytolepis puspa (Cantlie 1963). But A. ripte (Druce, 1895), and A. samanga (Fruhstorfer, Eliot & Kawazoe (1983), afer detailed work, confrmed 1910). The frst two species are known from India and its status as a separate species and also described a Editor: George Mathew, (Ex) Emeritus Scientst, KFRI, Peechi, India. Date of publicaton: 26 September 2020 (online & print) Citaton: Chandrasekharan, V.K. & M.J. Palot (2020). A frst complete documentaton of the early stages of Hampson’s Hedge Blue Acytolepis lilacea lilacea Hampson, 1889 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) from Western Ghats, Kerala, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 12(11): 16861–16867. htps://doi.org/10.11609/ jot.5425.12.13.16861-16867 Copyright: © Chandrasekharan & Palot 2020. Creatve Commons Atributon 4.0 Internatonal License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproducton, and distributon of this artcle in any medium by providing adequate credit to the author(s) and the source of publicaton. Funding: None. Competng interests: The authors declare no competng interests. Acknowledgements: We are thankful to the principal chief conservator of forests (Wildlife), Kerala Forests & Wildlife Department and the wildlife warden, Parambikulam Tiger Reserve for permission to collect and for the feld support. MJP is grateful to the director, Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Kolkata and the ofcer-in-charge, ZSI, WRC, Pune for facilites and encouragement. We thank Shri. Balakrishnan Valappil, V.C. Balakrishnan, Satheesh Pullat, and Vishnu Vijayan (biologist, Parambikulam Tiger Reserve) for their immense support. We are grateful to Shri. Purnendu Roy and Dr. Milind Bhakare for their help and guidance in the completon of this paper. We are also thankful to the members of the Ferns Nature Society, Wayanad and the Malabar Natural History Society, Kozhikode for their encouragement and support. 16861 J TT Early stages of Hampson’s Hedge Blue Chandrasekharan & Palot new subspecies, A.l. indochinensis from Laos. The occurs with A. puspa in low land forests, penetratng the male genitalia of A. lilacea is of the same patern as subtropical zone, but is very much scarcer. Nothing has A. puspa, but one-third larger (Eliot & Kawazoe 1983). been published so far, concerning the early stages of this Males have a more rounded apex and termen than A. speceis anywhere in the world. Here we present, for the puspa and signifcantly, the series of post discal striae frst tme, the early stages of Acytolepis lilacea lilacea, on the underside of the forewing is more regular. The recorded from Parambikulam TR, Western Ghats, Kerala, subspecies lilacea, which fies in southern India, is India. The recorded early stages, larval feeding paterns distnguished from other subspecies by the male lacking and the recorded host plant show marked diferences whitsh discal areas above on the forewing, the hindwing from those of A. puspa, and once again confrms the without whitsh patches and edging to the marginal status of A. lilacea as a distnct species from A. puspa. spots, and on underside the forewing postdiscal spot in We present here the images of egg, fnal instar larva, space 9 is usually present (Eliot & Kawazoe 1983). This and pupa of both species for comparison (Image 3 & 4). subspecies is uncommon and only recorded from very few places in southern India, mainly from Palni Hills, Materials and methods Nilgiris, and Coorg (Larsen 1987). Recently, the taxa has During the annual buterfy survey held in been reported from Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary (WS) and Parambikulam TR, Palakkad District, Kerala in November Parambikkulam Tiger Reserve (TR) of Kerala (Kunte et 2018, we came across a female A. lilacea at Anappady al. 2019). Gaonkar (1996) in his report on buterfies of area (Image 1), (10.443N & 76.813E) laying eggs on Western Ghats also recorded the species from Kerala, the tender leaves of Cycas circinalis (Cycadaceae). We Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. The species is protected collected the eggs, reared fve caterpillars in air-tght under Schedule II of the Indian Wildlife (Protecton) transparent plastc containers by providing fresh leaves Act, 1972. Recent work on the larval host plants of the of the larval host plant. We photographed all relevant buterfies of the Western Ghats by Nitn et al. (2018) stages of the life history using a Canon 5D Mark III SLR has not listed any larval food plant for A. lilacea. Camera with a Canon 100mm macro lens and a Kenko This species is probably ofen overlooked in its 1.4X Teleconverter. We compared the images of the habitats with the sympatric, similar looking and quite early stages with the relevant, previously recorded early common Acytolepis puspa (Common Hedge Blue). It stages of A. puspa by VKC. We analysed the images taken Image 1. The study area, Anappady forest of Parmabikulam Tiger Reserve. 16862 Journal of Threatened Taxa