Aditya's Photography

 Common Emigrant, also known as Lemon Emigrant, is a medium-sized butterfly commonly found in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri-Lanka, and Myanmar. Its wingspan ranges from 55-80 mm.  It is a common species of gardens and city areas. Usually seen on flowers in gardens throughout the year. During the summers, due to the scorching heat, they can be found near damp patches. Their flight is rapid with erratic up and down swoops. They are found up to 4000m in the hills.  Both the genders are yellow to translucent greenish-white in color. Their antennae may be red or black in color. 

  The Common Evening Brown is found in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri-Lanka, Myanmar, and Bangladesh. Their wingspan ranges from 60-80 mm.  Their flight is jerky and they fly close to the ground. They are found up to 2100m in the hills. They can be found fluttering around throughout the year. They are usually active at dusk and might enter houses since they are attracted to light. These butterflies have two morphs(looks), one is the wet season morph and the other is the dry season morph. During the wet season, they have coffee brown wings with huge yellow, black and white spots. During the dry season, their wings are hazelnut brown in colour and the huge spots fade away and black patches appear on the wings which impart the look of a blotted paper, disguising it as a completely different butterfly. 

 The garden tent web spider belongs to the family of orb weaver spiders.  Although they are in the orb-weaver family, they do not build orb webs. Their tent-like, highly complex non-sticky web is sometimes considered a precursor of the simplified orb web. These webs are aligned horizontally, with a network of supporting threads above them. These spiders often live in colonies. Females have a body length of mostly about 10 millimeters long.  The spider constructs a tent web, about a meter high form the ground. Builds the web in an open environment. Prefers moist and thick surroundings. Hunting method -  The spider rests at the hub or in the retreat. An airborne insect striking the upper barrier web either drops onto the horizontal net or remains entangled in the upper barrier web. The prey produces vibrations in the web upon impact and/or during struggling, and these are transmitted via web elements to the hub. Some discrimination of prey characteristics on the basis of vibration freque

  The  Neoscona theisi are a species of spotted orb-weavers. The  females have a body length of up to 11 mm. Males are slightly smaller, measuring up to 9 mm.  They build an  orb web  and rest near the center.  Individuals vary in color from dark reddish-brown to pale-yellow with a distinct pattern on the upper abdomen, lighter along the center-line, and darker on the sides. The legs are light with dark patches at the joints.  They are found from  Cyprus, Israel, Russia, India, Philippines, China to Indonesia, Japan, Australia. They normally feed on smaller bugs, flies, and other insects. It is usually observed that they retreat back to long leaves to rest at noon.  According to me the spider in the above image is a female.   

Other names - Lime Butterfly, Lemon Butterfly, Lime Swallowtail, Chequered Swallowtail. These  common names  refer to their host plants, which are usually citrus species such as the  lime . Unlike most butterflies belonging to the swallowtail family, it does not have a prominent tail. The butterfly is  found from Asia to  Australia and can be easily spotted in gardens. The butterfly has a wingspan 80–100 mm.  Above, the background colour is black. A broad, irregular yellow band is found on the wings above, which is broken in the case of the forewing. Besides this, the butterfly has a large number of irregular spots on the wing. The upper hindwing has a red spot with blue edging around it. This butterfly is an avid  mud-puddler(as explained in the Ceracris post)  and visitor of flowers. It basks with its wings held wide open on tufts of  grass  and  herbs , and generally keeps within a metre of the ground, even on cloudy days. It relies on its quick flight for escape.  It has a number o

  Common Castor is  an orange  butterfly  with brown lines whose  larvae  feed almost exclusively on the castor oil plant .  Their wingspan ranges between 30–35 mm. Like others in their family , their front two legs are small and unused, effectively making them four-legged. These smaller appendages are covered with long hairs, giving them the characteristic brush look.   It is a very active butterfly but weak on the wing. It flies gracefully as if sailing through the air among the castor plants or any dense vegetation. It is fond of resting on leaves at the top canopy, keeping the wings slowly moving sideways, and always nearer to host plants. It is found all over India, Shimla to Sikkim in The Himalayas, and recorded from Rajputana and Bengal, Assam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Tenasserim, Malayan subregion.

  They are  a type of grasshoppers belonging to the family  Acrididae.  It occurs in Indo-China and southern China, where it may become a locally significant agricultural pest. Mud-Puddling behavior has been noted in them,   they seek out  nutrients  in certain moist substances such as rotting plant matter,  mud,  and carrion and they suck up the fluid. Where the conditions are suitable, conspicuous insects such as butterflies commonly form aggregations on wet  soil , dung, or  carrion .  From the fluids, they obtain  salts  and  amino acids  that play various roles in their physiology,  and ecology. They are nearly 3cm - 5cm long and are green in color with black strips either side. They can be seen fluttering the bushes and shrubs in groups of 10 and 20, they easily get scared by human presence and are totally harmless to humans. 

The Painted Grasshopper  is a large brightly colored  grasshopper  found in the  Indian Subcontinent .  Nymphs  of the species are notorious for squirting a jet of liquid up to several inches away when grasped. It is also known as Aak grasshopper or locally in a few tribal areas called titighodo. The half-grown immature form is greenish-yellow with fine black markings and small crimson spots. The mature grasshopper has canary yellow and turquoise stripes on its body and pale red hind wings.  It changes its outward appearance by molting. The grasshopper feeds on the poisonous plant known as crown flower Upon slight pinching of the head or lower body, the half-grown immature form ejects liquid in a sharp and sudden jet, with a range of two inches or more, from a dorsal opening. The discharge is directed towards the pinched area and may be repeated several times. The liquid is pale and milky, slightly viscous, and bad-tasting, that the insect obtains from the plant it feeds upon.

The male's abdomen length is nearly 18-21 mm and wing length is 20-23 mm The female's  abdomen length is nearly 18-20 mm and wing length is 22-25 mm  The Ditch Jewel  is a small dragonfly with brown-capped yellowish-green eyes. Its thorax (body) is olivaceous-brown, marked with a reddish-brown stripe and two brownish stripes on each side. It has wings that are transparent but reddish in color. Its Abdomen(tail) is ochreous-red, marked with brown stripes. The Female is similar to the male in body structure but it is pale yellowish-green in color. Its wings are transparent, tinted with yellow at the extreme base. It breeds in weedy ponds, lakes, and slowly moving streams; especially in sluggish waters. It is very common along sewage canals, tanks, ponds, and ditches. It is a  dragonfly of polluted waters. That flies very near the ground and perches on aquatic weeds.  It is found in most of the Asain countries.