Subspecies in India
(1) Ariadne merione merione (Cramer, [1777]) – Dakhan Common Castor
(2) Ariadne merione tapestrina (Moore, 1884) – Intricate Common Castor
Conservation and Special status
This species is not legally protected in India under any schedules of WildLife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Photo Gallery and Species Biology
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| State | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | No date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT | |||||||||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| Arunachal Pradesh | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Assam | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | |||||||
| Bihar | |||||||||||||
| Chandigarh | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Chhattisgarh | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 6 | |||||
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT | |||||||||||||
| Daman & Diu UT | |||||||||||||
| Delhi | 4 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 1 | |||||
| Goa | |||||||||||||
| Gujarat | 2 | 1 | 7 | ||||||||||
| Haryana | |||||||||||||
| Himachal Pradesh | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Jammu and Kashmir UT | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Jharkhand | |||||||||||||
| Karnataka | 22 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 21 | 11 | 7 | 15 | 16 | 23 | |
| Kerala | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 7 | |||
| Ladakh UT | |||||||||||||
| Lakshadweep | |||||||||||||
| Madhya Pradesh | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| Maharashtra | 8 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 26 | 31 | 47 | 42 | 21 | ||
| Manipur | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Meghalaya | |||||||||||||
| Mizoram | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Nagaland | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Odisha | |||||||||||||
| Puducherry UT | |||||||||||||
| Punjab | 2 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Rajasthan | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Sikkim | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Tamil Nadu | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||||
| Tripura | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||||||||
| Uttar Pradesh | 1 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 3 | |||||||
| Uttarakhand | 3 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 24 | 4 | 1 | ||||||
| West Bengal | 9 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 7 | ||||
| Total | 45 | 19 | 28 | 32 | 19 | 17 | 53 | 58 | 97 | 95 | 103 | 71 |
Ricinus communis, Tragia hispida, Tragia involucrata, Tragia plukenetii, Tragia praetervisa (Euphorbiaceae). Recently, Tragia praetervisa has been recorded as a new larval host plant by Nitin Kawthankar from Pal, Vengurla Taluka, Sindhudurg District, Maharashtra.
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.
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Page citation
Saji K., H. Ogale, V. Jathar, T. Bhagwat, M. Konwar, N. Ravikanthachari, S. Debnath, N. Kawthankar, and K. Kunte 2025. Ariadne merione (Cramer, [1777]) – Common Castor. 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/ariadne-merione, accessed 2025/07/19.