Butterflies of Sri Lanka - #02 Psyche

On that dark and cloudy evening, I spotted this Psyche (Leptosia nina) butterfly resting in my garden. These psyche butterflies are pretty restless during day light hours. Thus hardly giving any time to capture them extremely close. Once it gets dark, these butterflies roost on leaves or flowerheads very close to the ground. That is one of the best time to capture them leisurely even though I had to crouch on the ground to capture them. I was using Nikon D3200 with AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR II Lens. And also with the speed of 1/60sec of slow shutter I get most of the image in focus.

There is also a beautiful story behind this butterfly's name. In Roman mythology, Psyche was a beautiful girl who was visited each night in the dark by Cupid, who told her she must not try to see him. When she did try, while he was asleep, she accidentally dropped oil from her lamp on him, and he awoke and fled. After she had performed many harsh tasks set by Cupid’s mother Venus, Jupiter made her immortal, and she and Cupid were married. Her name Psyche is Greek for both “soul” and “butterfly.”

This is a butterfly of open but sheltered grassy places, including clearings in primary and secondary forest, plantations, roadsides, parks, gardens, quarries, railways and waste land. It is found at elevations from sea level to at least 1500 metres in the Himalayan foothills.

ISO -160  f/5.6 1/65sec