White Orange-tip

September 06, 2023

Ixias marianne (Cramer, [1779]) വെൺ ചെഞ്ചിറകൻ

Malayalam Name	:	വെൺ ചെഞ്ചിറകൻ
Family	:	Pieridae
Sub-family	:	Pierinae
Tribe	:	Leptociaini
Order	:	Lepidoptera

DISTRIBUTION

South Asia and South EastAsia

STATUS: Not common

HABITAT

It is common in dry deciduous forests, scrub and fallow lands and found throughout the year.

HABITS

The characteristics of this species vary according to the season in which the eggs are laid

IDENTIFICATION FEATURES

Small to medium size Yellow and white butterfly with wingspan 50-70 mm. The species wingspan is between 50 and 55 mm.
Wet-season brood
The male has chalky-white wings with the apical half of the forewing and terminal margin of the hindwing broadly black. There is a broad, rich, orange patch obliquely across the black area extended to the upper apex of the forewing.

The underside of the wing is a rich sulphur-yellow and is covered with reddish brown, short, transverse striations and minute dots. The forewing has an orange patch on the upperside which can be plainly seen because of the transparency on the wing, a broadly triangular area below this cell white, large and prominent discocellular spots with a white centre. Both forewings and hindwings have a discal transverse series of reddish-brown spots, more or less conspicuous, the spots always centred with white. In other species in the genus these is characteristic of the dry-season broods. On the forewing the patch above the tornus is prominent and in some specimens very large.

The female is similar with the upper forewing having the orange patch on the black apical area narrower, posteriorly truncate and not extending so far down. There is also an outer transverse series of four black spots on the orange parch in interspaces 2 to 5. The underside is similar to that of the male but the markings are slightly larger.

Dry-season brood

In both sexes this differs less from the wet-season f The characteristic dry-season markings on the underside are more visible, on some occasions very much more

SIMILAR SPECIES Little (Small) Orange-Tip Colotis etrida

LARVAL HOST PLANTS