MORPHOLOGY
External characteristics
Male
Forewing length (mm): 30 (Kirton, 2018).
The end of the abdomen is pale coloured and has a pair of black coloured hair tufts that can be seen as black streaks (Kirton, 2018).Forewings: The wings can vary in intensity of yellowish colouration, the males can also occur in a near-white form (D'Abrera, 1982). The underside wing surface is creamy lemon white to yellow coloured and has a narrow black coloured margin from the costa to the tornus (Kirton, 2018).
Female
The female has broad black orders on the upper side wing surface. The hindwing is yellow coloured (Kirton, 2018).
Subspecies and variation
Fourteen subspecies are described, of which four subspecies are found in Philippines. Ssp. panda is similar to Ssp. distanti, but is slightly more yellowish in both sexes, especially for the female forewing underside discal area. The Philippine subspecies; ssp. nathalia, ssp. erebina, ssp. hostilia, are whitish in the male form and pale yellow with broad black margins in the female form. The females of ssp. nigerrima have a black wing suface on the underside with a white disal spot. The females of ssp. aurantiaca have fiery red-yellow hindwings (D'Abrera, 1982).