The Whitedisc Hedge Blue (Cyaniris albidisca) is a small butterfly

Butterfly

A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...

 found in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 that belongs to the Lycaenids or Blues

Lycaenidae

The Lycaenidae are the second-largest family of butterflies, with about 6000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies...

 family.

Taxonomy

The butterfly was earlier known as Lycaenopsis albidisca Moore

Frederic Moore

Frederic Moore FZS was a British entomologist. It has been said that Moore was born at 33 Bruton Street but may be incorrect given that this was the address of the menagerie and office of the Zoological Society of London from 1826 to 1836.Moore was appointed an assistant in the East India Company...

.

Description

Very closely allied to Cyaniris puspa, from which it differs as follows: Male Upperside: dull indigo-blue, not so dark as puspa when looked at from above vertically and with much less refulgent iridescence in an oblique light; the white on both fore and hind wings much more clearly defined,never diffuse and apparently prcsont at all seasons; on the fore wing the white is limited to the basal portions of interspaces 2 and 3 and does not extend into the cell or above vein 4; on the hind wing it occupies the basal half of interspace 6 and is strictly bounded by vein 7 above and vein 6 below. The terminal margins of both fore and hind wings with much narrower black edgings than in C. puspa. Underside: differs from that of puspa in the markings, which are smaller and much more delicate; on the fore wing the transverse postdiscal series of abbreviated line-like markings is bisinuate, placed further towards the terminal margin and has the component spots somewhat differently arranged; on the hind wing also the spots on the disc posteriorly are more regular than in puspa.

Female: Upperside ground-colour and white on disc of wings almost as in puspa, but always both in fore and hind wings more limited, the black costal and terminal margins consequently broader. Underside: the markings as in the male, and therefore differ in a similar manner from those of C. puspa female. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen in both sexes as in C. puspa.