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Monday, July 18, 2011

Aberrant Bushblue(Arhopala abseus mackwoodi)


Aberrant Bushblue is one of the rarest butterflies of Sri Lanka though scattered records available from all elevations of the country. Here are some comments made by three pioneer authors on Sri Lankan butterfly on distribution of the Aberrant Bushblue.
 “I have never taken this personally, though, when fishing at Ambawella(6000ft) a small Amblypodia, settled close to me, which was either this or a new species. It is not very rare in the Hills above Ratnapura, and has been taken in Colombo” – Ormiston W. The Butterflies of Ceylon 1924
“It has not been captured for many years now, but Ormiston(1924) records…….” – Woodhouse L.G.O. The Butterfly fauna of Ceylon 1950
“This is a very rare butterfly, the only specimens I have seen being in the British Museum (Natural History)” – D’Abrera, Bernard, The butterflies of Ceylon -1998

Its only known larval food plant in Sri Lanka is Vateria copallifera
*Above picture was taken at one of the remaining wet lowland forest patch of Gampaha district. It is highlighting the necessity of immediate actions to conserve these places with high biodiversity. 
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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 18, 2011 at 1:18 PM

    Hi,

    we have rared it on Vateria copallifera in 2007. see this link http://www.slbutterflies.lk/Butterfly.php?cid=114
    unfortunately we didn't have a good camera, those days.

    from,
    himesh

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  2. Amila SalgadoJuly 18, 2011 at 1:38 PM

    Congrats!
    I photographed it in April, 2010 in Sinharaja.

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  3. BushanaJuly 18, 2011 at 2:33 PM

    Himesh - Thanks for the link and valuable information on its food plant(I couldn't find any information on its food plant from any of available literature on Sri lankan butterfly fauna.).
    Amila - Yes I came across that picture in your blog while googling for this butterfly:) btw Have you got any observation of this butterfly in Horton plains?

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  4. Wilful ExposureJuly 18, 2011 at 4:57 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Amila SalgadoJuly 19, 2011 at 10:58 AM

    I have only found it once and that was when I photographed it.

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  6. BushanaJuly 19, 2011 at 11:30 AM

    Thanks Amila.
    I asked that because I read somewhere in jetwing eco web site probably written by its former CEO Mr Gehan de Silva wijerathna, that this butterfly can be seen in Horton plains with varies others. However I couldn't find name of Aberrant bushblue in any published literature on HPNP. Meanwhile IUCN research team has recently found it in a private owned estate of Kelani valley area(http://www.kvpl.com/download/Halgolla%20Estate%20Report.pdf?inline)

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