Subspecies in India
(1) Lachides parrhasius parrhasius (Fabricius, 1793) – Parrhasius Small Cupid
(2) Lachides parrhasius minuta (Evans, 1932) – Sindh Small Cupid
Taxonomic Information
This species was previously treated as Chilades parrhasius. It is now placed in Lachides based on a recent phylogenetic study (Nazari et al. 2023).
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
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| State | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | No date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT | |||||||||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Arunachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Assam | |||||||||||||
| Bihar | |||||||||||||
| Chandigarh | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Chhattisgarh | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT | |||||||||||||
| Daman & Diu UT | |||||||||||||
| Delhi | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Goa | |||||||||||||
| Gujarat | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | |||||
| Haryana | |||||||||||||
| Himachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Jammu and Kashmir UT | |||||||||||||
| Jharkhand | |||||||||||||
| Karnataka | 1 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 16 | 18 | 18 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 2 | |
| Kerala | 1 | 5 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Ladakh UT | |||||||||||||
| Lakshadweep | |||||||||||||
| Madhya Pradesh | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Maharashtra | 6 | 17 | 22 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 7 | 23 | 1 | |||
| Manipur | |||||||||||||
| Meghalaya | |||||||||||||
| Mizoram | |||||||||||||
| Nagaland | |||||||||||||
| Odisha | |||||||||||||
| Puducherry UT | |||||||||||||
| Punjab | |||||||||||||
| Rajasthan | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| Sikkim | |||||||||||||
| Tamil Nadu | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||||||||
| Telangana | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Tripura | |||||||||||||
| Uttar Pradesh | 1 | 3 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Uttarakhand | |||||||||||||
| West Bengal | |||||||||||||
| Total | 1 | 6 | 18 | 27 | 41 | 32 | 39 | 30 | 23 | 20 | 32 | 7 |
Acacia nilotica, Acacia, Dichrostachys cinerea (Fabaceae).
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.
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Nazari, V., K. Kunte, and Z. Bálint. (2023). On the identity of Hesperia parrhasius Fabricius, 1793 and its allied species (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology, 26:102165.
Page citation
Kunte, K. 2026. Lachides parrhasius (Fabricius, 1793) – Small Cupid. 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/lachides-parrhasius, accessed 2026/05/24.