If I had to choose, I would go with Palni 4-ring. The ring around the forewing eyespot in this species seems to be more of an orange tinge rather than yellow as in Nilgiri 4-ring. And, as you mention it is much narrower than in Nigiri 4-ring. Just going by the ocellus ring alone, Unni's picture seems closer to Nilgiri 4-ring (although white balance settings can affect the orange tinge). However, the forewing ocellus ring is not surrounded by a darker brownish ring, as appears to be the case with Nilgiri 4-ring. Moreover, the patterning of the dark/pale bands on the hindwing near the ocelli resemble Palni 4-ring.
Would be interesting to know if these fly together in some places, and in general, know what determines their respective distribution limits. Best ullasa http://people.su.se/~ukoda/ Ullasa Kodandaramaiah Dept of Zoology Stockholm University StockholmSweden, S-106 91. ________________________________ From: "Kunte, Krushnamegh" <[email protected]> To: butterflyindia <[email protected]> Sent: Tue, February 15, 2011 2:37:12 PM Subject: Re: [ButterflyIndia] Fwd: Nilgiri Fourring Unni, I am inclined to identify this as the Palni Four-ring rather than the Nilgiri Four-ring. Do you have the upper side of this specimen? Soubadra and Ullasa, what do you think? Krushnamegh. ________________________________ From: Unni Pulikkal <[email protected]> Reply-To: butterflyindia <[email protected]> Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2011 21:01:00 -0500 To: butterflyindia <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [ButterflyIndia] Fwd: Nilgiri Fourring I am sorry that I could not post it earlier. I made this shot at Nelliyampathy Hills in Oct 2009. The species is strictly confined to the grassy-rocky terrain of the hills and seems it never enters the adjoining shola forests. Happiness to you! unni www.imagery.in<http://www.imagery.in> ................................................. Dr.Unni Krishnan Pulikkal ARPS Pady P.O., Kodaly, Thrissur Dt., Kerala, India PIN.680699 Cell: 9446508102 Res: +91 480 2740735 ................................................. The Butterfly Art Foundation, India www.bafindia.org<http://www.bafindia.org> ................................................. On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 10:07 PM, Kunte, Krushnamegh <[email protected]> wrote: >Susanth, thanks for posting this image once again. This is the picture I have >in >my reference collection and the one I was referring to in my previous email. >This is a classic wing pattern of the Nilgiri Four-ring (Ypthima chenui): >prominent, broad yellow rings around ocelli on both fore- and hindwings, and >much whiter underside. The Palni Four-ring (Ypthima ypthimoides) has much >darker >underside, and has very thin, somewhat obscure yellow rings around ocelli >(this >from Evans’ book). These characters are clearly seen in my pictures on the BOI >website. > >Thanks for confirming the locality of your photograph. David Raju also just >sent >me Toms Augustine’s pictures of the species from near Thekkedy, so we have >independent sightings from at least two areas. This piqued my curiosity once >again, so I went back to some old literature to find out what others were >saying >about the distribution of these species. Wynter-Blyth was vague about the >exact >distribution of the Nilgiri Four-ring, so I wasn’t sure what he meant. But >then >Gaonkar’s Western Ghats list clearly states that “Ypthima chenui is found both >south and north of the Palghat Gap 82. Ypthima ypthimoidesis found only south >of >the Palghat Gap”. So I guess this distributional pattern is well represented >in >museum specimens. I have personally never seen the Nilgiri Four-ring south of >the Palghat Gap, though. I wonder why the Palni Four-ring is so common south >of >the Palghat Gap but the Nilgiri Four-ring is common in its north. Do you see >the >Nilgiri Four-ring commonly at Ponmudi? > >I do not recall seeing your other picture that’s used in Isaac’s book, so I do >not know why I would have identified it as the Nilgiri Four-ring. > >With best wishes, > >Krushnamegh. >------------------------------------------------- > >Krushnamegh Kunte, PhD > >Post-doctoral Research Fellow >FAS Center for Systems Biology, Harvard University >52 Oxford St., Northwest Lab Room 458.40-3 >Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. > >Ph: (617) 496-0078, Cell: (512) 577-1370, Fax: (617) 495-2196 >Email: [email protected]<http://[email protected]> >Other emails: [email protected]<http://[email protected]> , >[email protected]<http://[email protected]> > > >Personal website: http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~kunte/index.htm >Indian Foundation for Butterflies: http://ifoundbutterflies.org/ >Google profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/krushnamegh > >________________________________ From: Susanth c <[email protected]<http://[email protected]> > >Reply-To: butterflyindia ><[email protected]<http://[email protected]> > >Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2011 22:19:19 -0500 >To: butterflyindia <[email protected] ><http://[email protected]> > >Cc: "C. Susanth" <[email protected]<http://[email protected]> > >Subject: [ButterflyIndia] Fwd: Nilgiri Fourring > > >Dear Krushnamegh, >Here I again post my earlier Nilgiri Fourring posting in ButterflyIndia..This >picture was confirmed as Nilgiri fourring by you and my earlier picture I send >to Isaac's Book also confirmed as Nilgiri Fourring by you. >My fourring pictures are taken from Ponmudi Hills.I havent taken any fourring >picture from Palaghat gap. >My Nilgiri Fourring u mentioned as Palani Fouring in Issack's book was taken >from Athirumala, on the way to Agasthyakoodam peak during the year 2002-03 >If you need my fourring pictures for more identification/clarification i will >mail it to you. >with warm regards >Susanth > >---------- Forwarded message ---------- >From: Susanth c <[email protected] <http://[email protected]> > >Date: Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 9:49 AM >Subject: Nilgiri Fourring >To: [email protected] <http://[email protected]> >Cc: [email protected]<http://[email protected]> , >[email protected]<http://[email protected]> , >[email protected]<http://[email protected]> , "C. Susanth" ><[email protected] <http://[email protected]> > > > >Hai All, >Here I attached the image of Nilgiri Four-ring-Ypthimachenui an endemic >butterfly to Western Ghats >taken from Ponmudi Hills(Trivandrum,Kerala) during 2008.I am thankful all >members of Warblers and Waders for their field support and encouragement.I am >also thankful to Krushnamegh for provide details and identification tips of >Nilgiri four-ring and its kin Palani four-ring. >With warm regards >Susanth > > > > > -- Enjoy
