English: Indian Fluffy Tit

Genus: Zeltus de Nicéville, 1890 Species: amasa Hewitson, 1865 Subspecies: maximinianus Fruhstorfer, 1912 Caterpillar Host Plants: Clerodendrum laevifolium (Verbenaceae)

Introduction:

The female is pale brown and has whitish tornal areas on the hindwings marked with black marginal spots. Beneath, both sexes are white with apical areas on both wings shaded ochreous brown, more broadly so on the forewings. The cell-end bars are darker ochreous brown, and each wing has a narrow post-discal line and an obscure submarginal line. Each hindwing has a small black spot at base of space 7, a large black spot in space 2 and another on the tornal lobe. There are two pairs of white tails with the pair at vein 1b rather long, about twice as long as the pair at vein 2.

Butterfly with Tails, really long white wing tails. More over rare to a weird creation found in the Nature's insect kingdom, butterfly with tails on wings. One of the rarest types of tropical region butterflies you may ever encounter. These Indian butterfly species are commonly termed as Fluffy-Tit or more technically Zeltus Etolus. These long tailed butterflies comes under the family Lycaenidea. Its the second largest butterfly family which has about 28,000 butterfly species around the world and contributes to about 40 percent of known butterfly species.

Tropical region is found to be one of the very best dwelling places for butterflies. The basic needs for a butterfly to survive are sunlight, plants and flowers. So many flowering plants with nice fragrance and nectar is needed to attract butterflies into your garden. Some of the caterpillars are very selective in eating plants.

Let's have a look at the special butterfly tails, the tails of Fluffy tit butterflies and some interesting butterfly facts

A fluffy tit butterfly with white tails. A really rare among the butterfly species to encounter. These butterflies are seen in the tropical regions mainly in India. Fluffy tails are mostly seen in well lit parts of the forests and vegetation, and they are found much active. The wings are used for flying, but tails?

You know what, even if the wings are half broken the butterfly manages to fly. These insects can see only colors like yellow, red and green. Usually they gets attracted to flowers in these colours. Butterflies gets attracted each other by their bodily pheromones.

The antennas in butterfly head is used to smell. Butterflies uses their foot to taste and also to check if the leaves are good enough for its caterpillars to eat, so that it can lay the eggs. Butterflies uses a straw like tube called PROBOSCIS, to suck the nectar from flowers and the tube is kept rolled up when not in use.

Butterflies have skeletons outside their body and is called exoskeletons, which helps the insects to retain water inside body.