Jamides celeno

Species of butterfly

Jamides celeno, the common cerulean,

Like many tropical butterflies, this species shows seasonal polyphenism, with the appearance differing between adults according to the season.

"When full fed just an inch in length, of a dull reddish green colour, thickly shagreened with minute white tubercles, scarcely, if at all, hairy; the head pale ochraceous, entirely hidden beneath the second segment; the segments increasing in width to about the fifth, the two anal segments slightly decreasing and above flattened, especially the thirteenth; the erectile organs very small; a dorsal pulsating line, somewhat darker than the rest of the body; a subdorsal series of pale green oblique streaks, one on each segment on each side from the third to the eleventh segment inclusive; no other conspicuous markings. Dr. Forel has identified the ant that attends the larva in Calcutta, as Camponotus mitis, Smith. Dr. G. King identifies the plant on which the larva feeds in Calcutta as Heynea trijuga, Roxburgh." (de Nicéville quoted by Bingham)

"Of the usual Lycaenid shape, quite smooth, neither hairy nor pitted, pale ochreous greenish, the upper portions of the abdominal segments darker, covered throughout with coarse, rounded, blackish spots placed irregularly; a dorsal and a subdorsal series of similar but larger spots or blotches placed regularly. Head bluntly rounded, thorax slightly humped and constricted posteriorly, end of the abdomen rounded." (Lionel de Nicéville quoted by Bingham)