Subspecies in India
(1) Aricia agestis nazira (Moore, [1866]) – Himalayan Orange-bordered Meadow-Argus
Taxonomic Information
This is given as Aricia astrarche (Bergsträsser, [1779]) in some books. It is variously known as Brown Argus, Northern Brown Argus, Orange-bordered Argus, and Orange-bordered Brown Argus. The name used here, Orange-bordered Meadow-Argus, is preferable for the purposes of disambiguation since several groups of satyrine butterflies such as the Asian Callerebia and several European genera are also known as Arguses. Specifically, Callerebia hyagriva is also known as the Brown Argus. The name Argus is more appropriate for Callerebia owing to the prominent eyespots found on their wings.
Photo Gallery and Species Biology
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This species has been recorded so far from Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Uttarakhand, within the Indian limits.
This common species occurs in meadows and agricultural landscapes at mid-elevations in the Western Himalaya.
| State | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | No date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT | |||||||||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Arunachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Assam | |||||||||||||
| Bihar | |||||||||||||
| Chandigarh | |||||||||||||
| Chhattisgarh | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT | |||||||||||||
| Daman & Diu UT | |||||||||||||
| Delhi | |||||||||||||
| Goa | |||||||||||||
| Gujarat | |||||||||||||
| Haryana | |||||||||||||
| Himachal Pradesh | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Jammu and Kashmir UT | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 1 | ||||||||
| Jharkhand | |||||||||||||
| Karnataka | |||||||||||||
| Kerala | |||||||||||||
| Ladakh UT | |||||||||||||
| Lakshadweep | |||||||||||||
| Madhya Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Maharashtra | |||||||||||||
| Manipur | |||||||||||||
| Meghalaya | |||||||||||||
| Mizoram | |||||||||||||
| Nagaland | |||||||||||||
| Odisha | |||||||||||||
| Puducherry UT | |||||||||||||
| Punjab | |||||||||||||
| Rajasthan | |||||||||||||
| Sikkim | |||||||||||||
| Tamil Nadu | |||||||||||||
| Telangana | |||||||||||||
| Tripura | |||||||||||||
| Uttar Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Uttarakhand | 2 | 13 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| West Bengal | |||||||||||||
| Total | 5 | 15 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 3 |
Page citation
Kunte, K. 2026. Aricia agestis (Denis & Schiffermüller, 1775) – Orange-bordered Meadow-Argus. 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/aricia-agestis, accessed 2026/05/24.