Rare sighting of the Andaman Banded Dandy

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The Andaman Banded Dandy (Laringa horsfieldii andamanesis) is a butterfly that is rarely encountered in the Andamans. Butterflies of the genus Laringa are found in S. Myanmar, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo and Palawan. This andamanensis subspecies occurs only in South Andaman.

I photographed this butterfly at Chidiya Tapu, South Andaman on Dec 01, 2012. The individual in the photograph is a female. The male is overall dark blue with a pale blue band.

This is probably the … Read More

Rare Butterfly Rediscovery — The Snowy Angle

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The Snowy Angle (Darpa pteria) is a rare butterfly. The nominate race is known to occur in Philippines while the race dealbata has a wide distribution extending from Assam, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Malay Peninsula, Tioman, and all the way to Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Palawan. This butterfly was known in India only from one very old record, also from Assam (Evans 1949; Swinhoe 1912-1913).

Recently, Vidya Venkatesh and Karthikeyan S. saw this butterfly on April 26, 2011 in … Read More