MORPHOLOGY
External characteristics
Male
Wingspan (mm): 55 (Feltwell, 1993).
Forewings: The forewing upper side has a off-white coloured outer half, because the orange marking is confined in outer half of the cell and bases. The wing bases are widely covered by grey (Yata and Morishita, 1979).
Female Wingspan (mm):55 (Feltwell, 1993).
The subapical band is separated and the black coloured markings frequently widen. The underside wing surface has a broad marginal border. The hindwing underside has on the basal half a dull-yellow colouration (Yata and Morishita, 1979).
Subspecies and variation
Four (D'Abrera, 1982) to six (Yata and Morishita, 1979) subspecies are described. The males from ssp. baliensis are bigger than ssp. lombokiana and the latter one has a darker grey subapical area of the forewing underside. Ssp. kangeana differs from the more easterly subspecies by the much smaller yellowish red discal spot, the very thick black veins of the forewing and the specially deeply dentate distal border of the hindwing (D'Abrera, 1982). Females vary often and frequently lack the orange markings and are usually conspicuously darkened. There are four female forms of ssp. baliensia; the first form has a white ground-colour on the upper side wing surface and the subapical band is orange. The second one has both a white ground-colour as well as a white subapical band; the third form has a white ground-colour and the the subapical band is primrose-yellow coloured; the last form has a greenish yellow ground-colour and the subapical band is orange coloured. There are three female forms of ssp. lombokiana; the first form has a yellow ground-colour on the upper side wing surface and the subapical band and submarginal spots are yellow too; the second one has the upper side wing surface almost entirely black coloured; the last form has an all white ground-colour, subapical band and submarginal spots. There are three female forms of ssp. reinwardti known; the first form has conspicuous white markings; the second one has a white ground-colour as well as white subapical markings; the last form has a greenish yellow ground-colour and subapical markings. There is seasonal variation; the wet season form has the dark portion widened. The ground-colour and subapical band on the upper side wing surface are white in ssp. extincta (Yata and Morishita, 1979).