MORPHOLOGY
External characteristics
Male
Wingspan (mm): 60 (Grose Smith And Kirby, 1892).
Forewings: The forewing upper side has a white coloured area extended to beyond the end of cell. The costa has a black colouration to the base and is connected with a black discocellular bar.There are two white subapical spots in the black distal area. The forewing underside has a white area, just like the upper side, which is broadly invaded by black on the discocellulars. There are three yellow subapical spots and two smaller ones near the margin (Pequin, 2021). Hindwings The hindwing upper side has a narrow black marginal border, sometimes reduced to a line. The hindwing underside has a short, narrow chrome-yellow stripe at the base, separated by a black stripe of ground-colour which surrounds a large white discal area. The discal area is tinged with yellow and some pink scaling in the cell. There is a red submaginal line, which extends from the apex to close to the anal angle. Six triangular white spots are located next to the red line. The costa has a black colouration to the base and the inner marginal area from the base to near the submarginal line is green-ish yellow (Pequin, 2021).
Female
The females generally have a different underside wing surface than the males, by being darker with broader margins on both wings (D'Abrera, 1982). The forewing upper side has a broad black bar on the discocellulars, with three or four small white subapical spots. The female hindwing upper side has a broader black border than the one in males. On this border there are five white spots. The forewing underside has a slightly more extended white area and a larger subapical spot than the males have. The red line on the hindwing underside is by females nearer the margin and has smaller submarginal spots than in males (Pequin, 2021).
Subspecies and variation
Three subspecies are described (Pequin, 2021).