Loxura atymnus

Loxura atymnus, the yamfly,  is a species of lycaenid or blue butterfly found in Asia.

Description
"Male. Uppersicle bright fulvous. Forewing with the apical margin from the middle of the costa increasingly black, and continued down the outer margin, gradually decreasing in width, the inner margin of the black band being in an almost continuous curve. Hindwing with a very narrow, pale ochreous-brown band on the outer margin, some suffusion of this colour being at the base of both wings and continued down the hindwing (the abdominal fold being similarly coloured) and to the end of the tail. Underside dark ochreous-yellow, markings pale blackish. Forewing with two conjoined ring-spots across the middle of the cell, and two similar spots across the end, both somewhat indistinct, the latter with, sometimes, an indistinct spot alcove it, near the costa, a discal, nearly straight band of conjoined ring-spots, the middle one double, the series ending in two black marks in the interno-median interspace, a very indistinct series of sub-marginal lunules. Hindwing with two sub-basal ring-spots, two in the cell and two at the end, all very indistinct; a discal band, slightly inwardly curved, composed as in the forewing and an indistinct submarginal series of lunules, some small brown suffusion at the anal angle and the tail brown edged. Antennae black, with white dots beneath, club with an orange tip; head and body brown above, grey beneath."

"Female. Upperside somewhat paler than in the male, the marginal bands a little broader, the underside similar."




 * Eggs. Dome shaped, whitish in colour. Diameter:  0.92  (±  0.09)  mm.


 * Caterpillar.
 * First instar: the  dorsal  and  dorsolateral  sides  of  the  caterpillars are greenish  yellow  in  colour  with  hair  like  long  setae  present  dorsally  and sub-spiracularly, up to  2.98  (±  0.13)  mm.
 * Second instar: greenish yellow with two brownish dorsal bands mid  dorsally.  The  long  setae  of  the  first  instar  larvae  are  absent in second instar. Anal plate with a prominent depression.  The anterior end possessed a crescent shaped lip like  swelling  with  a  small  groove  on  the  head.  Length  up to of  6.66  (±  0.34)  mm.
 * Third instar:  similar  to  that  of  second  instar larvae  except  for  greater  size  reaching  a  length  of  9.7  (±  0.3)  mm
 * Fourth instar: initially  similar  to  that  of  third  instar.  But  gradually  the  dorsal  bands  become darker  and  wider  up  to  19.62  (±  0.28)  mm


 * Pupae:
 * pupae: attached to  the  leaf  surface  via  its  cremaster  and  a  silk  girdle  to  the silk pad. Size 13.61 (± 0.27) mm with a relatively long abdominal portion. Greenish with mid dorsal brown and whiteband of cryptic patterns. After about 7 days the pupae become darker in colour indicating  their  approach  towards  maturity.  The  pupal  skin  became  transparent and the orange patches on the upperside of the forewings are visible through the transparent skin.

Subspecies
The subspecies of Loxura atymnus are:


 * Loxura atymnus atymnus Stoll, 1780 – south India
 * Loxura atymnus arcuata Moore, [1881] – Sri Lanka
 * Loxura atymnus continentalis Fruhstorfer, 1912 – northeast India, Indochina
 * Loxura atymnus prabha Moore, 1877 – Andamans
 * Loxura atymnus nicobarica Evans, 1932 – Nicobar Island
 * Loxura atymnus fuconius Fruhstorfer, 1912 – Borneo, Thailand, peninsular Malaya, Langkawi, Singapore

Life history
Loxura atymnus uses Smilax zeylanica  (Order:  Smilacaceae)  and  Dioscorea pentaphylla (Order: Dioscoreaceae) as host plant. Smilax zeylanica is preferred for Oviposition and  eggs are laid singly  at  the  base  of  young  shoots. Before hatching parts of the egg shell are consumed. Just after their emergence from the egg shells the hatchlings (1.23 ± 0.11 mm) consumed the  remaining  part  of  the  egg  shell, then they start feeding leaves. The first three instars take 2–3 days. The fourth instar stops feeding after four days and attaches itself with a silk girdle and builds the pupal case. 15 to  16  days after hatching from eggs the pupation takes place. The adult butterflies emerged from the pupae after 7.7 (±0.27) days. The total  life  cycles  were  completed  in  23–26  days in laboratory conditions and may be change with temperature changes. This short duration of life cycle enables the butterfly species to complete several life cycles  within  a  year.