Subspecies in India
No subspecies are listed under this species.
Conservation and Special status
This species is legally protected in India under Schedule II of the WildLife (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022.
Photo Gallery and Species Biology
,
This species has been recorded so far from Nagaland within the Indian limits.
Naga Hills in NE India to Southern Shan States in Myanmar (Wynter-Blyth, 1957; Jeratthitikul et. al., 2011).
Wingspan: 20-25mm. Tailed. UP: dark brown, cilia white, checkered with black. Black marks cell-end. UN: small but prominent basal, discal, submarginal, marginal and cell-end black or dark brown spots, all conspicuously edged white. Submarginal spots on HW tornus are orange-reddish to a lesser or greater degree (Wynter-Blyth 1957).
This is a very rare species.
The sighting reported here (BOI media code aq268) was made on the road between Dzulekie and Benreu in Nagaland, between 1,450 and 1,720m asl, on a bright, sunny day. The butterfly was mud-puddling on the road amongst other butterflies.
| 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 | |||||||||||||
| Manipur | |||||||||||||
| Meghalaya | |||||||||||||
| Mizoram | |||||||||||||
| Nagaland | 1 | 2 | |||||||||||
| Odisha | |||||||||||||
| Puducherry UT | |||||||||||||
| Punjab | |||||||||||||
| Rajasthan | |||||||||||||
| Sikkim | |||||||||||||
| Tamil Nadu | |||||||||||||
| Telangana | |||||||||||||
| Tripura | |||||||||||||
| Uttar Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Uttarakhand | |||||||||||||
| West Bengal | |||||||||||||
| Total | 1 | 2 |
Jeratthitikul et al. 2011. Life history and morphology of the Black Cupid butterfly, Tongeia kala (de Niceville) (Lycaenidae), from Myanmar. Journal of the Lepidopterists’ Society, 65(3):167–174.
Wynter-Blyth, M. A. 1957. Butterflies of the Indian Region. The Bombay Natural History Society, Mumbai. 523pp + 72 pls.
Page citation
Aneesha, S., and K. Kunte. 2026. Tongeia kala (de Nicéville, 1890) – Black 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/tongeia-kala, accessed 2026/06/14.