About Choaspes benjaminii (Guérin-Méneville, 1843)
Choaspes benjaminii, commonly called the Indian awlking, has a total length ranging from 50 to 60 mm. This species can be identified by the shining green underside of its hindwing, which is marked with black veins, and an orange region with black spots at the tornus. Males of the species are shining indigo blue on their upper side. They have purplish hairs at the base that become greenish as the butterfly ages. The cilia of the hindwing and the anal lobe are broadly ochreous red. Females of the species are dark shining green with bluish-grey hairs at the base. The female forewing has a broad pale cupreous brown band along its posterior margin, and the female hindwing has a broad ochreous-red lobular patch with a black spotted upper border and a broad central angular streak. The thorax is greyish olive on the upper side, the vertex is bluish olive, and the abdomen is brown. The palpi, front of the thorax, and underside of the abdomen are ochreous red. The Indian awlking is distributed across Sri Lanka, India, northern Myanmar, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Japan. Within India, its range extends from the Palni Hills, Nilgiris, and Kodagu in the south to northern and eastern India, covering the area from Kulu to Assam and continuing eastward into Myanmar. The type locality of this species is the Nilgiris in South India.
