MORPHOLOGY
External characteristics
Male
Forewings: The forewing upper side has a white spot on the black margin. There is an oval white spot just above the cell-end (Yata and Morishita, 1979). Hindwings The hindwing upper side has a broad, black coloured marginal border, which usually extends beyond half the width from the cell-end to the termen. The hindwing underside is dark-brown coloured (Yata and Morishita, 1979).
Female
The females have a broader distal margin and darker, violet tinged under surface of the hindwing than males (D'Abrera, 1982). The hindwing underside is purple-brown coloured in females (Yata and Morishita, 1979)
Subspecies and variation
Four (Yata and Morishita, 1979) to eight (D'Abrera, 1982) subspecies are described, of which three are found in the Philippines. The females of ssp. phoebe have a yellow anal margin and tornus on the hindwing underside otherwise the markings are as in the males (D'Abrera, 1982). Ssp. whiteheadi has a wider black marginal border, the white submarginal spots and the vestigial discocellular spot are obscure. Further is the hindwing outwardly purple shaded and is there a large yellow discocellular spot (Yata and Morishita, 1979).