MORPHOLOGY
External characteristics
Male
Forewing length (mm): 26 - 28 (Otsuka, Kazuhisa, 2001). Wingspan (mm): 54 - 74 (Bingham, 1907).
Forewings: The forewing upper side lacks the white dot on the black marking (Yata and Morishita, 1979).The upper side wing surface is white coloured (Otsuka, Kazuhisa, 2001). Hindwings The hindwing upper side has a narrow black coloured border, which never extends beyond half the width from the cell-end to the termen. The hindwing underside is white to pale-yellow coloured (Yata and Morishita, 1979).
Female
The females have the black marking wider and the hindwing underside is much more conspicuous (Yata and Morishita, 1979).
Subspecies and variation
Twelve (Yata and Morishita, 1979) to fourteen (D'Abrera, 1982) subspecies are described. Ssp. narendra differs markedly in both sexes from ssp. indra by the yellowish grey hindwing upper side, with reddish brown discal patch, and also in the presence of fuscous margins to the hindwing underside, broader on the females than the males. The brownish coloured bands on the hindwing upper side of ssp. thronion are better developed in both sexes than on the nominate subspecies (D'Abrera, 1982). Subspecies found in higher latitudes has seasonal forms; the dry season form has the marginal border reduced, compared to the wet season form. Females of ssp. massilia have the upper side wing surface pale-yellow coloured.The ground-colour of ssp. citrinus is in both sexes yellow. Ssp. vadus is large and has the subapical white dots on the forewing and the hindwing marginal border well developed. Ssp. treadawayi is the only subspecies which has the subapical white dot on the forewing upper side (Yata and Morishita, 1979).