Subspecies in India
(1) Cigaritis vulcanus vulcanus (Fabricius, 1775) – Indian Common Silverline
Taxonomic Information
This species is sometimes listed under the genus Spindasis. Recent phylogenetic work shows Spindasis to be embedded within Cigaritis, so this species is now treated under Cigaritis.
Photo Gallery and Species Biology
This species has been recorded so far from every state and union territory of India, except Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Sikkim, and Tripura.
This is a common species.
| State | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | No date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT | |||||||||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Arunachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Assam | |||||||||||||
| Bihar | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Chandigarh | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Chhattisgarh | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT | |||||||||||||
| Daman & Diu UT | |||||||||||||
| Delhi | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 4 | ||||||
| Goa | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Gujarat | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| Haryana | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Himachal Pradesh | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Jammu and Kashmir UT | |||||||||||||
| Jharkhand | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||
| Karnataka | 12 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 13 | 40 | 20 | 35 | 24 | 16 | 10 | 5 | |
| Kerala | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 4 | ||||
| Ladakh UT | |||||||||||||
| Lakshadweep | |||||||||||||
| Madhya Pradesh | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||
| Maharashtra | 12 | 10 | 14 | 12 | 19 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 23 | 16 | 21 | 13 | |
| Manipur | |||||||||||||
| Meghalaya | |||||||||||||
| Mizoram | |||||||||||||
| Nagaland | |||||||||||||
| Odisha | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Puducherry UT | |||||||||||||
| Punjab | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Rajasthan | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Sikkim | |||||||||||||
| Tamil Nadu | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Telangana | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Tripura | |||||||||||||
| Uttar Pradesh | 3 | 3 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 2 | |||||||
| Uttarakhand | 2 | 1 | |||||||||||
| West Bengal | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 13 | 7 | 7 | |
| Total | 28 | 22 | 22 | 29 | 55 | 72 | 57 | 82 | 89 | 68 | 52 | 33 |
Carissa carandas (Apocynanceae). Cadaba fruticosa (Capparaceae). Dioscorea wallichii (Dioscoreaceae). Diospyros melanoxylon, Diospyros montana (Ebenaceae). Cassia fistula (Fabaceae). Clerodendrum indicum, Volkameria inermis (Lamiaceae). Woodfordia floribunda (Lythraceae). Ziziphus jujuba, Ziziphus rugosa (Rhamnaceae). Canthium coromandelicum (Rubiaceae). Allophylus cobbe (Sapindaceae).
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
Nitin, R., S. Aneesha, and K. Kunte. 2026. Cigaritis vulcanus (Fabricius, 1775) – Common Silverline. 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/index.php/Cigaritis-vulcanus, accessed 2026/05/24.








