Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Tailed Jay

The twentieth butterfly in the Butterfly from my garden series is the 'Tailed Jay' ( Graphium agamemnon ). 


In the photograph it is sitting on the leaf of the pumpkin creeper, else this restless flier prefers our custard apple tree or the Ashoka tree. 
Among insects, is a large group called 'Lepidoptera' ( meaning scaly wing). Butterflies and moths come under this group. Butterflies themselves are classified into two superfamilies; One is the 'Hesperioidea' which has only one family in it - the Skippers (Hesperiidae). The other superfamily is the Papilionoidea and encompasses four families: Swallowtails ( Papilionidea), Whites and Yellows ( Pieridae) , Brush-footed butterfly ( Nymphalidae) and Blues ( Lycaenidae). 
India has about 1501 Species , of which 321 are skippers, 107 Swallowtails, 109 whites and Yellows, 521 Brush-footed and 443 Blues. 
The Tailed Jay belongs to the swallowtail family.

1 comment:

  1. For me, all the butterflies look alike :( Thanks for the basic information about butterflies! I hope to gain some knowledge :)

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