Help in ID

[Dragontail]

Dear forum,
I am posting a picture of a blue which I shot last week in Arunachal Pradesh, the Northeastern state of India. This place is near to Myanmar border and have dense cover of forests.
This butterfly was deep under the bushes in damp forests.
Hope seniors and experts will help me to identifying this.

Regards

[Peacock Royal]

I can't view the picture.

[Sky Blue]

probably Flos sp., but need further check.

[Painted Jezebel]

The markings are almost consistent with Arhopala amantes ssp. as far as I can see. However, the colouration is not. It could be that any flash used picked out and accentuated certain colours. There are 3 subspecies: A. amantes amantes from the main Indian subcontinent down to Sri Lanka, A. amantes apella from Northern India (Assam, Sikkim), Type location Mkow, India, and A. amantes amatrix, from Burma and Northern Thailand. The main problem, for me is the postdiscal band- the spot in space 4 is normally shifted out of line, but it does not appear so from the photo, though the hindwing is obscuring most of the line so I can not be sure.

My ref books only go as far as the Thai/Burmese borders, so it is quite possible that it is a different species not found in my area of reference.

Having been wrong several times in the past, I am not prepared to put my shirt on it, but possibly my string vest!

266

[Commander]

Heh... my PM to Sunny earlier also suggested a Flos. But in this case, the geographical region where this butt is found, is out of my area of experience, and I'll defer to Les who is closer to the location where Arif is shooting.

[Painted Jezebel]

Arif, I may have confused you by talking about space 4. He is a pic of an Arhopala with descriptions of particular areas of interest. It is just coincidence that the species pictured happens to be the Thai ssp. of A. amantes! Hope it helps.

It will also allow everyone to compare and judge whether I am on the right lines with the ID!

266

[Silverstreak]

Les and Arif,

I took the liberty of inverting your image, so that the markings and lines can be more discernible.

Unfortunately , it is constrained by the image maximum dimension of the forum.

If you want me to concentrate on portion of the wing , do let me know.

[Painted Jezebel]

Thanks Sunny. I think you will agree that the majority of the hind wing is very similar, no need in my opinion to go into greater detail. There are a few small differences, but I do not have pics of the other subspecies, so I can not make a definate ID. To my mind, it certainly belongs to Arhopala Group 1.

266

[Silverstreak]

Les ,

Yes , almost all the markings on the hindwing are there .

Though in fairly bad condition, but can still make out, in this closeup, the marking on the hindwing as annotated.

[Painted Jezebel]

Sunny, I wish I knew how you do that! Do not have enough IT knowledge, I'm afraid.

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