Red Pierrot is a small and beautiful butterfly belonging to the family Lycaenidae, also known as Blues. Here is a picture of the butterfly I’ve taken recently; will add more later.
Exif: f/5.6, ISO 200, 1/640sec., 105mm, Nikon D7100, Micro-Nikkor 105mm f2.8G, Date: January 18, 2016
This photo was taken from Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary in Kerala. The location is about 800 meters from sea level. Chinnar is really a heaven for butterfly watchers.
It was during our morning trekking I took this photo. That day we had been watching butterflies since morning and had photographed some, when this creature came near flying and landed on the rocky floor. It seemed restless also, as it was almost 9 am and heat began to rise. I think it spent only about half a minute there and again started flying. The camera was almost placed on the floor to get a low-level angle. That helped to get maximum area of the wings in focus. Also got a nice shallow depth of field.
Hope you liked this picture.
See Also: Chinnar WLS – Photo Album
More about Red Pierrot (Talicada nyseus)
It is considered as a common butterfly in southern parts of India.
Size wise, it is not a very small Lycaenid. Wingspan is around 30 mm.
See Also: Common Pierrot Butterfly – Castalius rosimon
The under hind wing has an unmistakable red band near the marginal area which helps for easier identification. And it is joined with black band from the costal region. The band has white spots on it. The remaining part of the under hind wing is primarily white in color with black spots. It seems this black spots can vary from one to another. On the specific butterfly I observed, it had a black spot on the base, three on the post-basal area and three on the discal area (as one can see in the above photo).
Under fore wing has black band with white spots running along the marginal area. There are many black spots on post discal area. And there was one notable spot on discal area.
Upper side is primarily black in color. A major portion towards the bottom of the hind wing is orange colored.
Hind wings have small tails also.
Family: Lycaenidae
Scientific name: Talicada nyseus
