MORPHOLOGY
External characteristics
Male
Forewing length (mm): 30 (Kirton, 2018). Wingspan (mm): 50 (Feltwell, 1993).
Forewings: The forewing upper side has orange markings that never extends beyond one-fourth of the cell and is inwardly bordered with black, the orange marking never becomes dark or red (Yata and Morishita, 1979). The underside wing surface is yellow coloured and is mottled with brown. The upper side wing surface is yellowish white coloured (Kirton, 2018). Hindwings The hindwing upper side has a black coloured margin which is inwardly obscure (Yata and Morishita, 1979).
Female Wingspan (mm):50 (Feltwell, 1993).
Females have narrower bars (Kirton, 2018).
Subspecies and variation
Five (Yata and Morishita, 1979) to twelve (D'Abrera, 1982) subspecies are described, of which three are found in peninsular Malaya. All subspecies are loosely place under the species Ixias pyrene by D'Abrera. Ssp. alticola is probably a separate species from Ixias pyrene. Ssp. birdi is very similar to ssp. insignis, but the latter one has a broader orange patch on the forewing underside. Further, both seasonal female forms of ssp. insignis are white on the underside surface of the wings, instead of the typical yellow/orange combination. The female wet season form have spots or mottling on the upper side surface of the wings (D'Abrera, 1982). Of the five subspecies mentioned in Yata and Morshita (1979), three are found in Malay Peninsula. There is seasonal and geographical variation in this species. The dry season form has a vestigial marginal black band on the hindwing upper side, the hindwing underside has ripple markings, which are conspicuous and the submarginal row of spots is well-developed. There is a yellow and a white female form. The wings of ssp. birdi have a yellow ground-colour. The wings of ssp. alticola have a creamy-white ground-colour. The males of ssp. verna have a cream ground-colour on the forewing and outwardly tinged with pale lemon yellow, the orange subapical marking is wider and paler than in the other subspecies. The females of ssp. verna are more uniform pale yellow with the orange marking (Yata and Morishita, 1979).