Lasiommata schakra

Lasiommata schakra, the common wall, is a species of satyrine butterfly found in South Asia.

Common wall
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Lasiommata
Species:	L. schakra
Binomial name
Lasiommata schakra (Kollar, 1844)
Synonyms
Pararge schakra Satyrus schakra

Description

For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

Uppersides, male left, female right

Shows slight sexual dimorphism. Male upperside ground colour silky brown; cilia of both wings whitish. Forewing has a transverse row of four large orange spots, the apical one the largest, bearing a black, white-centred eyespot; beyond the row of orange spots a subterminal dark brown line. Hindwing uniform, but bearing a postdiscal row of from three to six black, white-centred, orange-ringed eyespots. Underside very pale greyish white; forewing: disc orange, outwardly defined by a dark line, two lines across the discoidal cell, and a sinuous discal oblique line beyond its apex not extending to the tornus, orange-brown; subterminal and terminal dark lines; a subapical eyespot, as on the upperside, but with the outer ring paler, and a much smaller ocellus beyond it towards apex of wing. Hindwing has the basal half crossed by two sinuous curved slender lines, a shorter line crossing the cell only, and another short line defining the discocellular veins, orange brown; the curved row of ocelli as on the upperside, but each ocellus with rings of pale ochraceous and of brown, alternately two of each; lastly, a subterminal and a terminal brown line. Antennae brown; head and thorax studded with long dark grey pubescence; abdomen pale brown. Sex-mark present.

Female is similar but on the upperside, the orange spot bearing the ocellus on the forewing inwardly bordered by a broad, pale, short line; the raised band of specialized scales absent.

Wingspan of 56–58 mm.

Distribution

The Himalayas eastwards to Sikkim.