Subspecies in India
(1) Calinaga aborica aborica Tytler, 1915 - Abor Dark Freak
(2) Calinaga aborica naima Vane-Wright, 2024 - Myanmarese Dark Freak
Taxonomic Information
This was sometimes treated as a subspecies of Calinaga buddha – Orange-breasted Freak, especially in older literature. Recent molecular phylogenetic and morphometric analysis confirms it as a distinct species (Todisco et al. 2024).
Photo Gallery and Species Biology
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Not known.
The known distribution of this species has recently been extended to the East Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh, Eastern Himalaya (Sondhi et al. 2016). The traditionally known range was in the Abor Hills (type locality of the species). The species was not recorded since its description until the rediscovery in 2016 (Sondhi et al. 2016).
Locally abundant in the Siang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh, but otherwise very rare. Flight period is from late April to early June, with a peak in mid to late May.
| State | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | No date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT | |||||||||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Arunachal Pradesh | 26 | ||||||||||||
| 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 | |||||||||||||
| Total | 26 |
Not known.
d’Abrera, B. 1985. Butterflies of the Oriental Region. Part II: Nymphalidae, Satyridae & Amathusidae. Hill House, Melbourne, Australia.
Kinyon, S. 2004. Illustrated Checklist for the Butterflies of Myanmar. Smithsonian Institution, USA.
Sondhi, S., T. Karmakar, Y. Sondhi, R. Jhaveri, and K. Kunte. 2016. Re-discovery of Calinaga aborica Tytler, 1915 (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Calinaginae) from Arunachal Pradesh, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 8:8618–8622. PDF file (4.7MB, has colour images of a type and other specimens).
Todisco, V., D. N. Basu, S. W. J. Prosser, S. Russell, M. Mutanen, A. Zilli, B. Huertas, K. Kunte, and R. Vane-Wright. 2024. DNA barcodes from over-a-century-old type specimens shed light on the taxonomy of a group of rare butterflies (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae: Calinaginae). PLoS ONE, 305825.
Page citation
Kunte, K. 2025. Calinaga aborica Tytler, 1915 – Dark Freak. 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/calinaga-aborica, accessed 2025/05/19.