Arhopala centaurus (Fabricius, 1775) - Centaur Oakblue

Subspecies in India

(1) Arhopala centaurus pirama (Moore, [1881]) – Tamil Centaur Oakblue
(2) Arhopala centaurus pirithous (Moore, [1884]) – Bengal Centaur Oakblue
(3) Arhopala centaurus coruscans Wood-Mason and de Nicéville, 1880 – Andaman Centaur Oakblue

Conservation and Special status

  This species is legally protected in India under Schedule II of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
 

Photo Gallery and Species Biology

This species was known from India only in the subspecific form naga, from the Naga Hills (Tytler 1939). Ssp. parva was known from Bhutan, NE Myanmar and the Shan States in E. Myanmar (Talbot 1939; Tytler 1939). The specimen reported here (BOI-bu327 and BOI-bu328) is the first record of ssp. parva in India, and the first record from Arunachal Pradesh.
 

  This species is legally protected in India under Schedule II of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

This species is reportedly globally rare, and very rare in India. Talbot (1939) noted that the British Museum of Natural History (BMNH, now the Natural History Museum), London, had only three males of this subspecies, and that the female was unknown. The specimen reported here (BOI-bu327 and BOI-bu328) is the first record of ssp. parva in India, and the first record from Arunachal Pradesh. This record is also apparently the first record of this species in India since Talbot's and Tytler's subspecies descriptions.

The species co-occurs with Delias sanaca Moore, 1857 – Pale Jezebel in the mixed evergreen forests at mid-elevations in the Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in W. Arunachal Pradesh, but is much rarer than that species.
 
StateJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecNo date
Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT212124
Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh11
Assam4391134112
Bihar
Chandigarh
Chhattisgarh
Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT
Daman & Diu UT
Delhi
Goa11
Gujarat
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir UT
Jharkhand
Karnataka1111
Kerala221511131234
Ladakh UT
Lakshadweep
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra15131126
Manipur
Meghalaya181
Mizoram
Nagaland1
Odisha
Puducherry UT
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim1111
Tamil Nadu
Tripura
Uttar Pradesh
Uttarakhand
West Bengal6111
Total242153224612219712
Terminalia alata (Wynter-Blyth 1957; Kunte 2000), Terminalia paniculata (Davidson et al. 1896; Bell 1919a; Wynter-Blyth 1957; Kunte 2000), Terminalia tomentosa (Bell 1919a; Wynter-Blyth 1957; Robinson et al. 2010) (Combretaceae). Hopea (Davidson et al. 1896; Robinson et al. 2010;) Hopea ponga (Kalesh & Prakash 2015) (Dipterocarpaceae). Xylia xylocarpa (Davidson et al. 1896; Robinson et al. 2010; Wynter-Blyth 1957; Kunte 2000) (Fabaceae). Lagerstroemia (Robinson et al. 2010), Lagerstroemia microcarpa (Davidson et al. 1896; Bell 1919a; Wynter-Blyth 1957; Kunte 2000), Lagerstroemia speciosa (Wynter-Blyth 1957) (Lythraceae). Schleichera oleosa (Robinson et al. 2010; Wynter-Blyth 1957; Kunte 2000) (Sapindaceae).

Key Reference:
Nitin, R., V. C. Balakrishnan, P. V. Churi, S. Kalesh, S. Prakash, and K. Kunte. 2018. Larval host plants of the butterflies of the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 10:11495–11550.

For the complete list of larval host plants of Indian butterflies, see the page on larval host plants.
 
ex081 , ex080 , ex079 , ex078 , ex077 dn256 , dn255 bt244 , bt243 bk693 , bk692 bz879 , bz878 bt482 aw118 as222 au998 aj310 bq278 , bq277 , bq276 , bq275 , bq274 , bq273 , bq272 , bq271 de804 , de803 , de802 , de801 bq282 , bq281 , bq280 , bq279

Evans, W. H. 1932. The Identification of Indian Butterflies. 2nd edn. Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai.

Talbot, G. 1939. The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma: Butterflies, Vol. 1. Taylor and Francis, London.


Tytler, H. C. 1939. Notes on some new and interesting butterflies chiefly from Burma. Part I. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 41:235–252.
 

Page citation

Saji K 2024. Arhopala centaurus (Fabricius, 1775) – Centaur Oakblue. In Kunte, K., S. Sondhi, and P. Roy (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 4.12. Published by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies. URL: https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/arhopala-centaurus, accessed 2024/12/14.