MORPHOLOGY
External characteristics
Male
Wingspan (mm): 30 (Braby, 2004).
Forewings: The sex brand is on both wings well developed and pink-ish coloured; one located on the forewing underside and one located on the hindwing upper side. The forewing upper side has a black coloured border, of which the inner margin is almost uniformly excavated. The forewing underside has the cell spot divided into two, with the lower half extinct (Yata and Morishita, 1979). Hindwings The hindwing upper side has a uniform border and is very narrow (Yata and Morishita, 1979).
Female Wingspan (mm):29 (Braby, 2004).
The female has a more heavily black dusted upper side wing surface (Yata and Morishita, 1979).
Subspecies and variation
Four subspecies are described (D'Abrera, 1982; Yata and Morishita, 1979). The dry season form is usually larger than the wet season form. The wet season form has a more angulate apex and the markings on the underside wing surface are better developed. Further, the hair, celia and ground colour of the underside wing surface are tinged with a reddish brown colouration. The black coloured borders of ssp. semperi are broader and better defined than in the other subspecies, this can especially be seen in the female (Yata and Morishita, 1979).