MORPHOLOGY
External characteristics
Male
Forewing length (mm): 34 - 36 (Otsuka, Kazuhisa, 2001), 35 (Kirton, 2018) . Wingspan (mm): 58 (Braby, 2004), 80 (Feltwell, 1993).
The antenna are in both sexes dorsally pink coloured (Yata & Morishita,1979).Forewings: Both wings upper side have a white to deep-yellow colouration; yellow is found at the base. The ripple marking is absent on the underside wing surface. The underside wing surface is creamy white, lusterous and tinged with yellow, the discocellular spots are silvery coloured at the center (Yata and Morishita, 1979). Hindwings The hindwing underside lacks the black coloured spot at the base. There is basal yellow colouration, not reaching to the tornus, on the hindwing (Yata and Morishita, 1979).
Female Wingspan (mm):58 (Braby, 2004), 80 (Feltwell, 1993).
Females have pink antennae and a light overall colouration, and some have silver spots and red blotches on the hingwing upper side (D'Abrera, 1982). The upper side wing surface is yellow and the marginal border is in females less developed, it becomes a row of spots on the hindwing. The discocellular spot on the upper side is apart from the costa. The underside wing surface is a deep-yellow with well developed markings, especially on the wing margin. The female upper side can sometimes be entirely blackened (Yata and Morishita, 1979).
Subspecies and variation
Four subspecies are described (D'Abrera, 1982; Yata and Morishita, 1979); D'Abrera (D'Abrera, 1982) suspects that ssp. flava and ssp. perspicua are separate subspecies. Males of ssp. crocale have creamy white wings and the basal and anal areas are yellow. Females of ssp. crocale prominent black margins over the underside surface of the wings. Both sexes of ssp. crocale have black antennae (D'Abrera, 1982).