Caterpillar of Archduke butterfly (Lexias pardalis dirteana)
Lexias pardalis dirteana
Archduke
Family: Nymphalidae
Subfamily: Limenitidinae
Genus Lexias
Species: pardalis
Subspecies: dirteana
Common Name: Archduke
Life History: complete
Extant in countries: •Singapore
Hostplants:
Cratoxylum cochinchinense (Yellow Cow Wood) Cratoxylum formosum (Mempat)
Description
The species exhibits sexual dimorphism where the male (shown here) is black with greenish blue wing margins whilst the female is dark brown with yellow spots on both wings.
The Archduke is a powerful flyer and is difficult to capture on the wing. It is essentially a jungle butterfly and is relatively common in Singapore's lowland forests. It is attracted by rotting fruit (pineapple and guava are favourites) and can be found feeding greedily on these fruits on the forest floor. A very similar-looking species, Lexias dirtea merguia, can be distinguished from Lexias pardalis dirteana, by its antennal club - the apical portion is orange-brown in L pardalis but entirely black in L dirtea.
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17 January 2023
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