Tajuria lnela nela

Tajuria nela nela Swinhoe, 1896


♂, Nan, Thailand.		♀, Nan, Thailand.

♂, Nan, Thailand.		♂, Dak Lak, Vietnam. (photo by K.Saito)

♂, 2004.10.--. Ha Giang, Vietnam. (photo by K.Saito)		♀, 2003.04.--. Ha Giang, Vietnam. (photo by K.Saito)

♂ (wsf), 2003.07.--. Ha Giang, Vietnam. (photo by K.Saito)		♀ (wsf), 2002.08.--. Ha Giang, Vietnam. (photo by K.Saito)

♂ genitalia, Nan, Thailand.

ON : Tajuria nela Swinhoe, 1896
OD : Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6)17(101): 359.
TL : "Jaintia Hills" [Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya, India]. (NHML)

Distribution : Assam, N.Myanmar (Kachin), S.Yunnan, N.Thailand, Laos, Vietnam. [Nepal]

Records taken from Literature

[ THAILAND ]
Tajuria luculentus luculentus ; Inayoshi,1997 - 2022 : Butterflies in Indo-China, figs.♂,♂(Un),♀,♀(Un). (Nan) (31.Aug.2020 changed.)
Tajuria luculenta luculenta ; Ek-Amnuay,[2007] : 684, pl.313, figs.L353a♂,♂(Un),♀,♀(Un). ('Wang Chin' [loc.err.]; Doi Phu Kha)
Tajuria luculenta luculenta ; Ek-Amnuay,2012 : 726, pl.332, figs.L376a♂,♂(Un),♀,♀(Un). ('Wang Chin' [loc.err.]; Doi Phu Kha)
Tajuria luculenta taorana ; Kimura et al.,2014 : 118, figs.♂,♂(Un),♂[♀],♂[♀](Un). (Doi Phu Kha)
Tajuria luculentus ssp. ; Inayoshi,2022 - 2023 : Butterflies in Indo-China, figs.♂,♂(Un),♀,♀(Un),♂,♂(Un). (Nan) (31.Aug.2022 last update. 31.Aug.2023 changed.)
Tajuria luculenta taorana ; S.Sophonviwatkul, C.Sunthornwiphat & T.Laola,2022- : Butterflies of Thailand, fig. (Chiang Mai) (accessed: 2023.08.20)
Tajuria nela ; Huang,2022 : 114-115. (Thailand)

[ LAOS ]
Tajuria luculenta luculenta ; Osada, Uémura & Uehara,1999 : 218. pl.125, fig.♂. (Xam Neua)
Tajuria luculenta luculenta ; Nakamura & Wakahara,2012 : 55.
Tajuria nela ; Huang,2022 : 114-115. (Laos)

[ VIETNAM ]
Tajuria luculentus ssp. ; Inayoshi,2022 - 2023 : Butterflies in Indo-China, figs.♂,♂(Un),♂,♂(Un),♀,♀(Un),♂,♂(Un),♀,♀(Un). (Ha Giang; Dak Lak) (31.Aug.2022 last update. 31.Aug.2023 changed.)
Tajuria nela ; Huang,2022 : 114-115, figs.2-N1,♂,♂(Un). (Vietnam: Ha Giang)

Specimens Examined

[ THAILAND ]
Nan : 5♂ 1♀.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

[ VIETNAM ]
Ha Giang : 2♂ 2♀.
Dong Van, 2002.08.--. 1♀ (KS) ; 2003.04.--. 1♀ (KS).

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Dak Lak : 1♂.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Notes

The butterfly is locally not rare in montane forests at moderate to high elevations (Alt. 700 - 2200m). Ek-Amnuay,[2007],2012 recorded this from 'Wang Chin, Phrae', but this is rather doubtful.
Huang (2022: 144-145) treated this taxon as a separate species based on genitalia differences. In his section on Tajuria luclenta(2022: 144), he treated D'Abrera's illustration (1986: 612) as a syntype of luclenta, but this specimen is thought to be nela from India. Here I tentatively follow his treatment, but for luculenta and nela, the genitalia of each type specimen should be confirmed.
Huang (2022) considered the populations of the nela in Indochina and in W. Malaysia to be the same taxon. However, the Malayan population appears to differ from the Indochinese populations in that the ground colour on the upperside is more purple. I therefore treat the populations from India to Indochina as the nominotypical subspecies and the population from W. Malaysia as ssp.taorana, as before.

Literature

Leech, J.H.,1890 : New species of Lepidoptera from China.
Entomologist 23: 26-50.

Leech, J.H.,1893 : Butterflies from China, Japan, and Corea Butts China Japan Corea.
(2): 297-681, pl.29-43.

Swinhoe, C.,1896 : New Species of Lepidoptera from the Khasia Hills.
Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. (6)17(101): 357-363.

Corbet, A.S.,1940 : A revision of the Malayan species of Tajuria Mre. (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae).
Trans. R. ent. Soc. Lond. 90(5): 107-120, 27 figs, pl.1.

D'Abrera B.,1986 : Butterflies of the Oriental Region. Part III Lycaenidae & Riodinidae.
Hill House, Australia.

Huang, H.,2022 : Taxonomy and morphology of Chinese butterflies 2.
Lycaenidae: Theclinae: Iolaini: Genera Tajuria Moore, 1881, Pratapa Moore, 1881, Dacalana Moore, 1884, Maneca de Nicéville,1890, Creon de Nicéville, 1896 and Bullis de Nicéville, 1897 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae).
Atalanta 53(1/2): 136-199.

1997.07.18 - 2023.08.31.