Subspecies in India
(1) Lacturnea lacturnus assamica (Tytler, 1915) – Assam Orange-crowned Cupid
(2) Lacturnea lacturnus pila (Evans, [1925]) – Nicobar Orange-crowned Cupid
(3) Lacturnea lacturnus syntala (Cantlie, 1963) – Dakhan Orange-crowned Cupid
Taxonomic Information
This species was previously treated as Everes lacturnus. It is now placed in a new genus based on a recent phylogenetic study (Nazari et al. 2025).
It is also known as the Indian Cupid.
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
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
| State | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | No date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT | |||||||||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Arunachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Assam | |||||||||||||
| Bihar | |||||||||||||
| Chandigarh | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Chhattisgarh | 1 | 3 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT | |||||||||||||
| Daman & Diu UT | |||||||||||||
| Delhi | |||||||||||||
| Goa | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Gujarat | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Haryana | |||||||||||||
| Himachal Pradesh | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Jammu and Kashmir UT | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Jharkhand | |||||||||||||
| Karnataka | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| Kerala | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 16 | ||||
| Ladakh UT | |||||||||||||
| Lakshadweep | |||||||||||||
| Madhya Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Maharashtra | 24 | 5 | 11 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 18 | 17 | |||
| Manipur | |||||||||||||
| Meghalaya | |||||||||||||
| Mizoram | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Nagaland | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Odisha | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Puducherry UT | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Punjab | |||||||||||||
| Rajasthan | |||||||||||||
| Sikkim | |||||||||||||
| Tamil Nadu | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3 | |||||||
| Telangana | |||||||||||||
| Tripura | |||||||||||||
| Uttar Pradesh | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Uttarakhand | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||||||||||
| West Bengal | 4 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Total | 31 | 9 | 17 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 3 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 26 | 38 |
Lotus corniculatus (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.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
Nazari, V., ten Hagen, W., Walter, J., Bartoňová, A. S., Naderi, A., Krupitsky, A. V, & Fric, Z. F. (2025). Cupid’s sisterhood: comprehensive sampling sheds light on the systematics and evolution of the cosmopolitan butterfly genus Cupido Schrank, 1801 and its relatives (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 205:zlaf170.
Page citation
Kunte, K. 2026. Lacturnea lacturnus (Godart, [1824]) – Orange-crowned 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/lacturnea-lacturnus, accessed 2026/05/23.