MORPHOLOGY
External characteristics
Male
Forewing length (mm): 33 - 36 (Otsuka, Kazuhisa, 2001), 35 (Kirton, 2018). Wingspan (mm): 70 (Feltwell, 1993).
Forewings: The upper side of the wing is orange or brick-red coloured, while the underside of the wing is yellowish orange (D'Abrera, 1982). The forewing apex is not produced and acute. The veins on the upper side are darkened. The termen on both wings are bordered by black colouration (Yata and Morishita, 1979).The upper side wing surface is spotless (Otsuka, Kazuhisa, 2001). Hindwings The hindwing has along the margin dark scaling (Kirton, 2018).
Female Wingspan (mm):70 (Feltwell, 1993).
The colouration of the wings varies between white and red and all intergrades in between, seasonal changes may have some bearing on these colour forms (D'Abrera, 1982). The discal band is broader and extends beyond the cell-end in females (Yata and Morishita, 1979).
Subspecies and variation
Fourteen (Yata and Morishita, 1979) to twenty (D'Abrera, 1982) subspecies are described, of which four are found in Philippines. The males do not vary much, only in ssp. hainanensis the intensity of the black vein outlines of the underside wing surface and sometimes in the presence of postdical and submarginal black spots on the forewing underside (D'Abrera, 1982).