23. Caleta elna noliteia (The Elbowed Pierrot)

Number: 23

Family: Lycaeniidae
Sub-Family: Polyommatiinae

Species: Caleta elna noliteia (Fruhstorfer, 1918)

Common name(s): The Elbowed Pierrot

Photography location: Xuan Son N.P. (Phu Tho Prov.)

The genus Caleta is represented in Vietnam by 2 species - roxus and elna. C. elna noliteia is recorded in the north and center of the country, C. elna elvira in the center (Lam Dong Prov.) and the south (Monastyrskii & Devyatkin, 2016).   

Group of Caleta roxus noliteia puddling on the wet ground, Xuan Son N.P., July 2014

This cute lycaenid is most often spotted and photographed when puddling at muddy forest paths and sandy streambanks

The underside is white with an angled sub-basal band on the forewing which probably gave the butterfly its common name. There is a series of conjoined post-discal black spots on both wings