Subspecies in India
There are 19 species of Potanthus in India. Their species-level identification is based largely on structures of the male genitalia. Hence, they cannot be identified easily based on external traits such as wing patterns. The images below thus represent the genus on the whole. We will create pages for individual species as we photograph in nature, collect and dissect specimens with confirmed species assignments, or with museum specimens.
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 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Arunachal Pradesh | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| Assam | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Bihar | |||||||||||||
| Chandigarh | |||||||||||||
| Chhattisgarh | |||||||||||||
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT | |||||||||||||
| Daman & Diu UT | |||||||||||||
| Delhi | |||||||||||||
| Goa | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Gujarat | |||||||||||||
| Haryana | |||||||||||||
| Himachal Pradesh | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Jammu and Kashmir UT | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Jharkhand | |||||||||||||
| Karnataka | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 22 | 13 | 3 | |||
| Kerala | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 19 | 9 | ||
| Ladakh UT | |||||||||||||
| Lakshadweep | |||||||||||||
| Madhya Pradesh | 2 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Maharashtra | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | ||||
| Manipur | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Meghalaya | 2 | 7 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Mizoram | |||||||||||||
| Nagaland | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Odisha | |||||||||||||
| Puducherry UT | |||||||||||||
| Punjab | |||||||||||||
| Rajasthan | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Sikkim | 1 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| Tamil Nadu | 1 | 4 | 2 | ||||||||||
| Tripura | |||||||||||||
| Uttar Pradesh | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Uttarakhand | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | ||||||
| West Bengal | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 5 | |||||||
| Total | 7 | 7 | 12 | 22 | 14 | 26 | 17 | 12 | 30 | 43 | 42 | 20 |
Potanthus diana (Chinese Dart) - Poaceae (K. Kunte pers. obs. 2017), Imperata cylindrica (Kalesh & Prakash 2015) (Poaceae).
Potanthus pallida (Pallid Dart) - Bambusa (Wynter-Blyth 1957), Oryza (V.C. Balakrishnan pers. obs. 2017), Saccharum (V.C. Balakrishnan pers. obs. 2017) (Poaceae).
Potanthus palnia (Bright Palni Dart) - Bambusa (Wynter-Blyth 1957), Setaria barbata (Kalesh & Prakash 2015) (Poaceae).
Potanthus pava (Oriental Pava Dart) - Bambusa (Wynter-Blyth 1957), Ochlandra travancorica (Kalesh S. & S.K. Prakash pers. obs. 2017) (Poaceae).
Potanthus pseudomaesa (Lankan Common Dart) - Axonopus compressus (Kalesh & Prakash 2007) (Poaceae).
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.
Potanthus pallida (Pallid Dart) - Bambusa (Wynter-Blyth 1957), Oryza (V.C. Balakrishnan pers. obs. 2017), Saccharum (V.C. Balakrishnan pers. obs. 2017) (Poaceae).
Potanthus palnia (Bright Palni Dart) - Bambusa (Wynter-Blyth 1957), Setaria barbata (Kalesh & Prakash 2015) (Poaceae).
Potanthus pava (Oriental Pava Dart) - Bambusa (Wynter-Blyth 1957), Ochlandra travancorica (Kalesh S. & S.K. Prakash pers. obs. 2017) (Poaceae).
Potanthus pseudomaesa (Lankan Common Dart) - Axonopus compressus (Kalesh & Prakash 2007) (Poaceae).
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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Page citation
Anonymous 2024. Potanthus spp - – Dart spp.. 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/potanthus-potanthus-spp, accessed 2024/04/27.