Acraea terpsicore (Linnaeus, 1758) - Tawny Coster

Subspecies in India

No subspecies are listed under this species. There has been long-standing confusion among taxonomists as to whether the correct name for the Tawny Coster is Acraea terpsicore (Linnaeus, 1758) or Acraea violae (Fabricius, 1775/1793). Several authors had pointed out that they had failed to locate the type of Papilio terpsicore Linnaeus, 1758, and that that name had been erroneously used for several species in Africa and Asia, so terpsicore Linnaeus, 1758 was not defined properly. As a result, these authors had concluded that Papilio violae Fabricius, 1775/1793 was probably the valid name. However, several key papers had clarified this issue, and shown that the type of terpsicore Linnaeus, 1758, collected from the Chennai area (erstwhile Madras) in SE India, existed in the collections of the Linnean Society of London and identified as such (le Doux 1922, 1928; Pierre and Bernaud 1997). Following this, until evidence is provided to the contrary, it appears that Acraea terpsicore (Linnaeus, 1758) should be used as a valid name for this species.
 

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

StateJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecNo date
Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT
Andhra Pradesh1133433425
Arunachal Pradesh
Assam12
Bihar1
Chandigarh1
Chhattisgarh12753713661
Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT11
Daman & Diu UT
Delhi111
Goa11
Gujarat212552121
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir UT1
Jharkhand1
Karnataka763591615195171412
Kerala3116114815111
Ladakh UT
Lakshadweep
Madhya Pradesh41115334
Maharashtra271515392640382227344325
Manipur
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland
Odisha12
Puducherry UT1
Punjab
Rajasthan112
Sikkim1
Tamil Nadu414336812
Tripura1101
Uttar Pradesh311
Uttarakhand131
West Bengal323116757123145
Total463039786091866271838956

Special Article: The Life Cycle of the Tawny Coster Butterfly – Some Observations
      - by Dr T. P. Alaganantham & Dr Geetha Jaikumar


The Tawny Coster (Acraea terpsicore) is a common butterfly in the estate of the Theosophical Society, Chennai. According to literature, Passiflora is the preferred host plant for this butterfly. In 2010, we observed that female butterflies lay eggs on the underside of leaves of the wild flower Turnera subulata. The caterpillars feed on the leaves and the flowers of this plant. A plant which harboured a number of caterpillars was uprooted and transplanted to a pot, which was then placed indoors and closely monitored. One of the caterpillars pupated successfully and lasted as a pupa for 8 days before emerging as an adult. The adult butterfly was released into the garden after photographing.

Acraea violaeAcraea violae

To our knowledge, Turnera is not mentioned in literature as a host plant for any butterfly. Therefore, we believe our report represents a new larval hostplant record for A terspicore. Passiflora does not occur on the TS estate, whereas Turnera is abundant, suggesting that A. terspicore can adapt to a novel hostplant when its regular hostplant is lacking.
 

Acraea violaeAlthough, caterpillars of various growth stages can be seen at any given time, we never found pupae on the plants despite repeated and careful searches. We hypothesized that caterpillars crawl away from the host plant to pupate as is known to happen with some species of caterpillars which travel as much as one kilometer before becoming a pupa. In 2013, we were indeed able to locate many pupae of the butterfly on an unidentified grass away from the host plant. This interesting behaviour of A. terspicore larvae pupating away from their hostplant needs to be investigated in more detail. Our study suggests that there are many interesting discoveries to be made about the natural history of butterflies in India, including previously unreported host plants and local adaptations of butterflies on different hostplants.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Le Doux, C. 1922. Acraeen-Studien I (Lep. Rhop.). 1. Die identitat der Acraea violae F. (Indien) und Ac. neobule D.u.H. (Afrika). Dtsch. Entomol. Zeitschript, 1922:297–316.

Le Doux, C. 1928. Acraeen-Studien III. (Lep. Rhop.). 1. Die nomenklatur und der formenkreis von Acraea eponina Cr. Dtsch. Entomol. Zeitschript, 1928:97–115.

Pierre, J., and D. Bernaud. 1997. Acraea terpsicore (Linné), problèmes de nomenclature et données biologiques (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae). Bull. la Société Entomol. Fr., 102:405–412.
 

Page citation

Saji, K., Y. Gurjar, P. Kale, T. P. Alaganantham, G. Jaikumar, and K. Kunte 2024. Acraea terpsicore (Linnaeus, 1758) – Tawny Coster. 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/acraea-terpsicore, accessed 2024/12/06.