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
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 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | |||||||
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 | ||||||
Goa | |||||||||||||
Gujarat | 2 | 1 | 7 | ||||||||||
Haryana | |||||||||||||
Himachal Pradesh | 1 | ||||||||||||
Jammu and Kashmir UT | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
Jharkhand | |||||||||||||
Karnataka | 19 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 10 | 20 | 9 | 7 | 13 | 14 | 21 | |
Kerala | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 7 | ||||
Ladakh UT | |||||||||||||
Lakshadweep | |||||||||||||
Madhya Pradesh | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
Maharashtra | 8 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 26 | 30 | 46 | 40 | 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 | 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 | 42 | 16 | 26 | 31 | 19 | 17 | 51 | 56 | 95 | 92 | 95 | 69 |
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.
Page citation
Saji K., H. Ogale, V. Jathar, T. Bhagwat, M. Konwar, N. Ravikanthachari, S. Debnath, N. Kawthankar, and K. Kunte 2024. 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 2024/09/09.