Monday, July 20, 2015

Five bar Swordtail (Pathysa antiphates ceylonicus)

One of the rarest butterfly of the island. It is confine to the few localities in the southwestern wet lowland forests. Where also it occurs probably in a certain period of the year, roughly from January to end of March. Few earlier records also available from the dry zone especially from the Uva province.  Five bar Swordtail usually flies around midday. Therefore it is also known as "12 O' clock fly". Males often settle on wet patches in stream beds and jungle paths as well as the decaying animal matters.  No larval host plants have been discovered of it from Sri Lanka.