It also pupates gregariously. The pupa is yellow with six black points and has a length of about 2.5 cms.

male

Female
(Specimens: courtesy of the The Australian Museum)

The upper surfaces of the wings of the adult butterfly are white with a black band around the edge, and some white spots near the wingtip. The black margin is rather wider in the female.

(Photo: courtesy of Buck Richardson, Kuranda, Queensland)

The undersides of the forewings are the same as above, but the undersides of the hindwings are white suffusing to yellow along the hind margin, and they have a broad black margin containing a red submarginal band. The butterfly has a wingspan of about 6 cms.

It is found as several subspecies in

and in Australia as the subspecies mysis in:

The former subspecies aestiva Butler 1897, was elevated to full species status in 2012, on the basis of the adult genitalia, colour pattern, immature stages, behavour, and ecology.

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia,
CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 1, pp. 337-339.

Johan Christian Fabricius,
Historiae Natvralis Favtoribvs,
Systema Entomologiae,
1775, p. 475, No. 138.

previous caterpillar

Australian butterflies

Australian Lepidoptera

Australian moths

next caterpillar

(updated 30 December 2009, 22 November 2013, 28 June 2015, 12 June 2020)