MORPHOLOGY
External characteristics
Male
Forewing length (mm): 25 - 30 (Otsuka, Kazuhisa, 2001), 30 (Kirton, 2018).
Forewings: The forewing upper side has the submarginal portion not stained by green-ish yellow scales (Yata and Morishita, 1979). The forewing underside has a chocolate-brown termen (Kirton, 2018). Hindwings The hindwing underside has orange markings, which are limited to the tornus and the wing is not entirely tinged with orange colouration (Yata and Morishita, 1979). The hindwing underside is orange coloured and has a chocolate-brown border on termen (Kirton, 2018).
Female
Subspecies and variation
Eleven (Yata and Morishita, 1979) or 24-25 (D'Abrera, 1982) subspecies are described, of which nine subspecies are found in Philippines; D'Abrera doubts if ssp. anaitis can be classified as a subspecies. Ssp. talboti is an intermediate between ssp. siamensis and ssp. malaya, especially the females. The females of ssp. natuna are an intermediate in appearance between ssp. zisca and ssp. poetelia, but they have narrower black margins and a paler and more uniform yellow suffusion in the hindwing underside. Ssp. selma is similar to the nominate species, but in both sexes the black margins on the underside wing surface are narrower. The females of ssp. orantia are similar to those of ssp. rhemia, but they have more orange on their hindwing underside than ssp. rhemia (D'Abrera, 1982). In the Lea subspecies-group has the male hindwing upper side a white ground-colour and the orange markings extends from the tornus to the inner margin. The hindwing underside is yellow. The iudith subspecies-group has on the hindwing upper side a yellow ground-colour and the marginal border is conspicuously wider. The Naomi subspecies-group has the marginal border in the male clearer and the hindwing upper side has deeper orange markings. The hindwing underside is often tinged with red and the veins are not darkened (Yata and Morishita, 1979).