Delias lativitta Leech, 1893 - White-streaked Jezebel

Subspecies in India

(1) Delias lativitta parva Talbot, 1937 – Himalayan White-streaked Jezebel
(2) Delias lativitta naga Tytler, 1939 – Patkai White-streaked Jezebel

This species is also known as the Broadwing Jezabel (Evans 1932).

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

Photo Gallery and Species Biology

Unknown in India.
 
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 very similar to Delias sanaca Moore, 1857 – Pale Jezebel and Delias berinda Moore, 1872 – Dark Jezebel, but is easily distinguished by the white stripe in the cell of the hindwing upperside (Talbot 1939), and short white discal streaks on the upperside of both wings. Its hindwing termen is usually prominently more wavy. The co-occurring subspecies of Delias sanaca and Delias berinda have more spotted appearance on the upperside, the hindwing cell has a very faint, diffused, short white marking in males and a white stripe in females, and a less wavy hindwing termen.

 

  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 UT
Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh131
Assam
Bihar
Chandigarh
Chhattisgarh
Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT
Daman & Diu UT
Delhi
Goa
Gujarat
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir UT
Jharkhand
Karnataka
Kerala
Ladakh UT
Lakshadweep
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Manipur
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland
Odisha
Puducherry UT
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu
Tripura
Uttar Pradesh
Uttarakhand
West Bengal
Total131
Unknown in India.
 

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

Anonymous 2024. Delias lativitta Leech, 1893 – White-streaked Jezebel. 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/delias-lativitta, accessed 2024/03/28.