Subspecies in India
No subspecies are listed under this species.
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 listed under Cigaritis.
Photo Gallery and Species Biology
This species has been recorded so far from Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu within the Indian limits, appearing to be endemic to the Western Ghats and neighbouring hill ranges in peninsular India.
This species inhabits dry as well as moist forests, primarily occurring in the dry season (February and March), when it is encountered most frequently mud-puddling.
| 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 | |||||||||||||
| 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 | 4 | 38 | 13 | 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| Manipur | |||||||||||||
| Meghalaya | |||||||||||||
| Mizoram | |||||||||||||
| Nagaland | |||||||||||||
| Odisha | |||||||||||||
| Puducherry UT | |||||||||||||
| Punjab | |||||||||||||
| Rajasthan | |||||||||||||
| Sikkim | |||||||||||||
| Tamil Nadu | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Telangana | |||||||||||||
| Tripura | |||||||||||||
| Uttar Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Uttarakhand | |||||||||||||
| West Bengal | |||||||||||||
| Total | 4 | 38 | 14 | 3 | 3 |
Terminalia spp. (Combretaceae). Cassia fistula, Entada spp. (Fabaceae). However, caterpillars may be found on a wide range of plants, wherever their host ants occur.
For the complete list of larval host plants of Indian butterflies, see the page on larval host plants.
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.
Page citation
Kunte, K. 2026. Cigaritis abnormis (Moore, [1884]) – Abnormal 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-abnormis, accessed 2026/05/24.





