Spalgis epius

Spalgis epius,^[1] commonly known as the apefly, is a small species of butterfly found in the Indomalayan realm that belongs to the lycaenids or blues family.^[2][3] It gets its name from the supposed resemblance of its pupa to the face of an ape.

Apefly
Upperside
Underside, Kerala, India
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Lycaenidae
Genus:	Spalgis
Species:	S. epius
Binomial name
Spalgis epius (Westwood, 1851)
Synonyms
Geridus epeus Westwood, [1851] Lucia epius Spalgis nubilus Moore, [1884] Lucia fangola Kheil, 1884 Spalgis titius Fruhstorfer, 1919 Lucia substrigata Snellen, 1878 Spalgis strigatus Semper, 1889 Spalgis georgi Fruhstorfer, 1919 Spalgis semperi Fruhstorfer, 1919 Lucia dilama Moore, 1878 Spalgis pharnus Felder, 1860

Description

Male

Upperside: dull brown, slightly darker towards the apex of the forewing; also a more or less quadrate whitish spot beyond the apex of the cell on the same wing; in some specimens this spot is slightly diffuse. Underside: pale, silky, brownish white; forewings and hindwings crossed by numerous, very slender, short, sinuous, transverse, dark brown strigae which are outwardly slenderly edged with brownish white of a shade paler than that of the ground colour; both wings with an anteciliary dark brown line with on the inner side a similar edging. Forewing, in addition, with an oval white spot beyond the cell. Cilia of both forewings and hindwings of the same shade as the ground colour of the wings. Antenna, head, thorax and abdomen pale brown, club of antennae ochraceous at apex; beneath: the palpi and thorax brownish grey, abdomen pale brown.^[4]

Female

Upperside: slightly paler brown. Forewing: the cell and apex darker; a white spot similar to that in the male but larger, beyond the apex of the cell; in most specimens extended diffusely outwards and downwards. Hindwing: similar to that of the male. Underside: precisely as in the male.^[4][5]

Life cycle

• 
  Mating Pair
• 
  Apefly first-instar caterpillar
• 
  Apefly second-instar caterpillar
• 
  Third-instar caterpillar
• 
  Final-instar caterpillar
• 
  Pupa
• 
  Freshly eclosed apefly butterfly

The caterpillars of this butterfly, like other members of the subfamily Miletinae, are entomophagous and are predators of scale insects like mealybugs.^[6][7] The species unlike many other lycaenid butterflies is not myrmecophilous (it has no mutualistic associations with ants).^[8]

Subspecies

• S. e. epeus (India, Sri Lanka to Peninsular Malaya, Nicobars, Mergui and southern Yunnan)
• S. e. dilama (Moore, 1878) (Taiwan)
• S. e. fangola (Kheil, 1884) (Sumatra, Nias, possibly Borneo)
• S. e. nubilus Moore, [1884] (Andamans, Pulau Tioman)
• S. e. pharnus Felder, 1860 (Kai, Buru, Ambon, Halmahera, West Irian)
• S. e. semperi Fruhstorfer, 1919 (northern Philippines, Luzon)
• S. e. strigatus Semper, 1889 (southern to central Philippines)
• S. e. substrigata (Snellen, 1878) (Sulawesi)
• S. e. titius Fruhstorfer, 1919 (Java, Bali, Sumba, Sumbawa, possibly Damar and Lombok)