Early instars feed on leaftips, sheltering under the leaftip when not feeding. Later instars feed nocturnally, resting by day head downward at the base of the plant.

The pupa is green with a dark doral line, and irregular ridges with white edges. It has a length up to 1.5 cms. It hangs head down from a cremaster attached to the foodplant or a nearby object.

(Specimen: courtesy of Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

The adults are dark brown with a large orange patch on each forewing, and with one eyespot on each forewing and three on each hindwing.

underside
(Specimen: courtesy of Macleay Museum, University of Sydney)

Underneath, the wings are brown, each with a central pale yellow band, and a subterminal arc of eyespots. The butterflies have a wing span of about 4 cms. The adults are noted for their attraction to rotting fruit, especially over-ripe bananas, from which they suck the juice. They also drink dew and sap.

feeding on over-ripe banana juice
(Photo: courtesy of Gus Lee, Cairns, Queensland)

The eggs are laid in small (1 - 7) clusters on the underside of a leaf of a foodplant. They are each spherical, yellow, and have a diameter of about 1 mm.

The species is found in

as well as in Australia in

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

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby,
Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 476-477.

Johan Christian Fabricius,
Historiae Natvralis Favtoribvs,
Systema Entomologiae (1775), p. 488, No. 200.

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(updated 4 May 2010, 10 December 2013, 24 May 2019, 25 June 2020)