Abisara echerius

The Plum Judy (Abisara echerius, Abisara echeria) is a small but striking butterfly found in Asia belonging to the Punches and Judies family. This active butterfly is usually seen at the tops of trees and amidst foliage.

It has a habit of landing and turning around almost immediately after alighting. It repeats this turning movements as it moves along branches. This is believed to help in evading predators by causing confusion about head orientation.

This distinctive mode of movement gives the impression of 'dancing' and is an important field characteristic that helps in identifying the species from even a distance.

Description

Charles Thomas Bingham in his The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma volume on butterflies describes the species as follows:

A very variable form. Termen of hind wing more or less broadly angulate or produced at apex of interspace 3, but not narrow or tailed as in Abisara neophron.

Wet-season form

Male: Upperside rich purple-brown or maroon-brown with a blue gloss. Forewing with discal and postdiscal transverse fasciae very obscure and only slightly paler than the ground-colour. Hind wing uniform ; two inwardly conical small black spots near apex of interspace 1, and single similar but larger black spots near apices of interspaces 5 and 6; all these spots bordered slenderly and somewhat obscurely on the outer side with white. Underside dull maroon-brown. Fore wing with a broad, slightly curved discal, narrower postdiscal and subterminal transverse pale bands; the discal fascia broadening anteriorly. Hind wing: a slightly curved narrow discal pale fascia; the black spots as on the upperside, but bordered on the inner and on the outer sides by an obscure pale lunular line. Antennae black with scattered pale specks; head, thorax and abdomen maroon-brown; beneath, the palpi, thorax and abdomen paler brown.