Doleschallia bisaltide

This article is about the species. For the subfamily, see Charaxinae.
Autumn leaf
Ventral view
Bali, Indonesia
Dorsal view
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Doleschallia
Species: D. bisaltide
Binomial name
Doleschallia bisaltide
(Cramer, 1777)
Subspecies

See text

Doleschallia bisaltide, commonly known as the autumn leaf, is a nymphalid butterfly found in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Australasia. In Australia they are also known as leafwing.

Description

D. bisaltide fourth instar larva
D. bisaltide pupa

The larvae are black, with two rows of dorsal white spots. Head with a pair of branched spines; rest of the segments with a dorsal and a lateral row of blue branched spines on each side. They feed on Artocarpus, Pseuderanthemum, Calycanthus, Ruellia, Girardina, Strobilanthus and Graptophyllum.[1][2] The pupae are yellowish with numerous black spots; constricted in the middle; head produced into two points.[3] There are several subspecies under Doleschallia bisaltide:[4]

The Andaman autumn leaf closely resembles the Indian form, but differs in the oblique yellow band on the upperside of the forewing, which is broader and extends from the middle of the costal margin uninterruptedly to interspace 4, though it is preapically constricted. On the upperside of the hindwing there is an inner as well as an outer conspicuous subterminal narrow-black band. On the underside this subspecies is as variable as the typical form, but the ground colour in many specimens (presumably wet-season broods) is of a richer, almost metallic green, with the basal snow-white spots defined with black lines; the ocelli in interspaces 2 and 5 seem also to be more clearly defined than in the Indian form. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen as in malabarica.[5]
This subspecies has been seen in the South Andaman (Chidiyatapu), Car Nicobar, Central Nicobars and at Great Nicobar. They are attracted to the flowers of Ligustrum glomeratum and larvae have been discovered on Pseuderanthemum album (Acanthaceae).[6]
Found in the Obi Islands.
The leafwing. Found in Indonesia, Torres Strait Islands, and northeastern Australia.[7]
Found in Bougainville.
Found in Sulawesi.
The Ceylon autumn leaf. Found in Sri Lanka.
Found in southern China, Indochina and Malaysia. Doleschallia bisaltide siamensis is a synonym.[7][8]
Found in New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands.
Found in the Bismarck Archipelago and the Admiralty Islands
Found in New Hebrides.
The Himalayan autumn leaf. Found in northern India and Nepal.
The Malabar autumn leaf. Males and females underside yellowish brown, paling anteriorly to rich golden yellow on the forewing, shading anteriorly into dusky brown on the hindwing. Forewing: the apical half black, following a line from vein 12 opposite the Discocellulars, passing through apex of cell, obliquely across middle of interspace 3 and curving down to tornus; a black spot near apex of cell coalescing with the inner margin of 1he black colour; a short, very oblique, broad golden-yellow band, broader in the female than in the male, from middle of costal margin to interspace 5; a spot beyond in line with it in interspace 4; two, sometimes three, minute, preapical white specks; the cilia fulvous, touched with white, anteriorly. Hindwing uniform; the costal margin broadly as noted above, a subterminal narrow band and narrower terminal line posteriorly, dusky black; a postdiscal black spot in interspaces 2 and 5 respectively; the cilia fulvous.
Underside very variable, closely resembling a dry leaf. No two specimens are ever alike. The ground colour varies from reddish to dark greenish brown with irrorations of greyish and black scales; apex of the forewing and the terminal margin posteriorly of the hindwing more or less lilacine; forewings and hindwings crossed by a dark narrow discal fascia, generally bordered on the inner side by a greyish line; this fascia bent inwards at right angles above vein 6 of the forewing and in most specimens, bordered internally by a diffuse pale patch and externally by an oblique whitish mark, beyond which is a subcostal white spot, followed by a transverse sinuous postdiscal series of obscure ocelli crossing both wings, each ocellus centred by a minute dot, white on the fore, black on the hindwing. In the male there are generally, but not invariably, a number of whitish spots on the basal areas of both wings. Antennae blackish brown, ochraceous at apex; head, thorax and abdomen dark fulvous brown; beneath, the palpi white, the thorax and abdomen pale brown.[5] Wingspan is about 84 to 88 mm (3.3 to 3.5 in). Found from Sikkim, S. India, Ceylon, Assam, Myanmar and Tenasserim.
Found in the Treasury Islands, Shortlands, Guadalcanal, and possibly the Solomon Islands.
Found in New Hebrides.
Found in Waigeu.
Found in Biak.
Found in Kai Island
D. b. philippensis fifth instar larva on Graptophyllum pictum
Found in the Philippines.
Found in peninsular Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia.[1]
Found in Rennell and the Bellona Islands.
Found in Indonesia and Timor.
Found in the Treasury Islands, Shortlands, and Guadalcanal.
Found in Biak.
Found in Kai Island

References

  1. 1 2 Les Day. "Doleschallia bisaltide". Samui Butterflies. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
  2. ↑ Adrian Hoskins. "Autumn Leaf". Learn About Butterflies. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
  3. ↑ Described from figure in Jour. Bomb. N. H. Soc.
  4. ↑ Markku Savela. "Doleschallia C. & R. Felder, 1860". Lepidoptera and some other life forms. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
  5. 1 2 Bingham, C.T. (1905). The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma Butterflies. 1 (1st ed.). London: Taylor and Francis, Ltd.
  6. ↑ Veenakumari, K. and Prashanth Mohanraj 1997. Rediscovery of Lethe europa tamuna with notes on other threatened butterflies from the Andamans and Nicobar Islands. Journal of the Lepidopterists' Society. 51(3):273-275 PDF
  7. 1 2 "Doleschallia bisaltide australis (Autumn Leaf)". Butterfly Circle. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
  8. ↑ "Doleschallia bisaltide continentalis Fruhstorfer,1899". Retrieved August 7, 2012.
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