Thursday 27 August 2015

Appias

Appias forms a part of a genus of family Pieridae (whites) found in Southern Asia and Australia. They are also commonly called puffins or albatrosses.

“Off the recorded Appias species, 10 species occurs in Indian Subcontinent i.e. albina, libythea, paulina, lyncida, nero, indra, melania, lalage, wardii and olferna. Apart from A.nero i.e bright orange coloured, all the Appias species found in India are white on the upper wing surface, with the apex and outer margins of the forewings marked to a greater or lesser extent with black, according to species. Females of the "white" species have a dull brownish-white ground colour, heavily suffused with dark brown around the margins and in the fw discal cell. The undersides vary considerably - e.g. albina is pure white; indra is greyish, heavily mottled with brown; and the underside hindwings of lyncida are bright yellow with broad chocolate margins”. (learnaboutbutterflies.com)

Tuesday 25 August 2015

Fulvous forest skimmer (Neurothemis fulvia) - Sikkim Dragonfly


China rose (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis)- Sikkim Flora


Scientific classification

Kingdom:       Plantae
Family:           Malvaceae
Genus:            Hibiscus
Species:           H. rosa-sinensis

Binomial name: Hibiscus rosa-sinensis L.

Other Names:  China rose

Special feature:  It is the most widely used flower in laboratory experiments by scholars and universities to study floral characteristics.

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis was named by Carolus Linnaeus. The Latin term rosa-sinensis literally means "rose of China", though it is not closely related to the true roses.

Saturday 22 August 2015

Ixias pyrene (Yellow Orange Tip) - Sikkim Butterfly



Scientific classification

Kingdom:             Animalia
Phylum:               Arthropoda
Class:                    Insecta
Order:                  Lepidoptera
Family:                 Pieridae
Genus:                  Ixias
Species:                 I. pyrene
Binomial name:    Ixias pyrene (Linnaeus 1764)

Other Names:  Yellow Orange Tip


Special feature:  This species is most common among the genus Ixias. They are ten species in numbers. 

Wednesday 25 March 2015

Pseudocoladenia dan, (Fulvous Pied Flat) - Sikkim Butterfly

Pseudocoladenia dan, (Fulvous Pied Flat)

Place : Rongli, East Sikkim

Date: March 8, 2015

Pic: Shital Pradhan

Tuesday 24 March 2015

Papilio memnon (Great Mormon) - Sikkim Butterfly


Place: Rongli, East Sikkim (March 8, 2015) Pic: Shital Pradhan


Kingdom:            Animalia

Phylum:               Arthropoda

Class:                   Insecta

Order:                 Lepidoptera

Family:               Papilionidae

Genus:                 Papilio

Species:                P. memnon

Binomial name:  Papilio memnon Linnaeus (1758)


MORE ON GENUS PAPILIO

Monday 16 March 2015

Phoenicurus hodgsoni (Hodgson's redstart) - Sikkim Bird


Phoenicurus hodgsoni (Hodgson's redstart)
Place : Rongli, East Sikkim
Date: March 8, 2015
Pic: Shital Pradhan

Centropus sinensis (Greater Coucal) - Sikkim Bird

Centropus sinensis (Greater Coucal)

Place : Rongli, East Sikkim

Date: March 8, 2015

Pic: Shital Pradhan

Friday 30 January 2015

Pericrocotus speciosus (Scarlet minivet - male) - Sikkim Bird

Pericrocotus speciosus (Scarlet minivet - male)

Place : Shantinagar, Singtam, East Sikkim

Date: January 23, 2015
Pic: Shital Pradhan



Scientific classification

Kingdom:       Animalia
Phylum:          Chordata
Class:             Aves
Order:            Passeriformes
Family:           Campephagidae
Genus:            Pericrocotus
Species:           P. speciosus

Binomial name: Pericrocotus speciosus Latham, 1790

Other Names:  Scarlet Minivet

Special feature:  While the male of most subspecies are scarlet to orange with black upper parts, the females are usually yellow with greyish olive upper parts.

There are 13 species found in this genus:


    Rosy minivet,                                                          Pericrocotus roseus
    Swinhoe's minivet or brown-rumped minivet,        Pericrocotus cantonensis
    Ashy minivet,                                                          Pericrocotus divaricatus
    Ryukyu minivet,                                                     Pericrocotus tegimae
    Small minivet,                                                         Pericrocotus cinnamomeus
    Fiery minivet,                                                          Pericrocotus igneus
    Little minivet,                                                         Pericrocotus lansbergei
    White-bellied minivet,                                            Pericrocotus erythropygius
    Grey-chinned minivet,                                            Pericrocotus solaris
    Long-tailed minivet,                                               Pericrocotus ethologus
    Short-billed minivet,                                               Pericrocotus brevirostris
    Sunda minivet,                                                        Pericrocotus miniatus
    Scarlet minivet,                                                       Pericrocotus speciosus
    Orange minivet,                                                      Pericrocotus flammeus

Sunday 25 January 2015

Erebus macrops (Owl Moth) - Sikkim Moth

Erebus macrops  (Owl Moth)

Place : Shantinagar, Singtam, East Sikkim

Date: January 23, 2015
Pic: Shital Pradhan




Scientific classification

Kingdom:             Animalia
Phylum:               Arthropoda
Class:                    Insecta
Order:                  Lepidoptera
Family:                 Noctuidae
Genus:                  Erebus
Species:                 E. macrops
Binomial name:    Erebus macrops Linnaeus, 1768

Other Names: Owl Moth

Special feature:  It is one of a large moth of  Noctuidae species and its wingspan is 12 cm.

There  are 36 species of moth in the genus.