Lesser Grass Blue is a small butterfly from Lycaenidae family, commonly found in the south Asian countries.
Exif Data: f/5.6, 1/250sec, ISO 400, flash not used, Nikon D7100, Micro-Nikkor 105mm f2.8G VR
This photo was taken from my home yard at Cheruvally in Kottayam district, Kerala. The butterfly was sitting on a dry flower while I was photograph it.
Update on February 5, 2016:
Exif: f/5.6, ISO 400, 1/1000 sec., -0.3 step, matrix metering, Nikon D7100, Mcro-Nikkor 105mm f2.8G, Date: January 18, 2016.
This photo was taken from Chinnar WLS in Idukki. The butterfly was resting on a thorny plant at that time.
More about Lesser Grass Blue Butterfly (Zizina otis)
It is so small that it can be overlooked; smaller than even the Common Quaker Butterfly. The wingspan is around 20mm only. It is one among the grass blue butterflies found here. The others are Dark Grass Blue (Zizeeria karsandra), Pale Grass Blue (Pseudozizeeria maha) and Tiny Grass Blue (Zizula hylax). So it can also be confusing to differentiate between them. But there are some crucial identification tips.
The black spots on the under side of the wings are paler. The seventh spot from costa of the under hind wing is located more towards the termen in Zizina otis. Whereas in others, it will be just under the sixth spot, or located towards the base (members of the Butterflies of India Facebook group also helped to identify it). The first and second spots from the costa of under hind wing are separate, but closer than on the others. The costal spot on the under fore wing is dull, as in the above photo. It can also be absent sometimes.
Unlike some of the other Lycaenids, the hind wings do not have tails.
Size is comparable to Zizeeria karsandra (Dark). Pseudozizeeria maha(Pale) is much bigger than the former. And Zizula hylax (Tiny), as the name suggests, is the smallest of all.
It usually flies closer to the ground, and rests on tiny flowers and leaves.
Scientific name: Zizina otis
