''Orsotriaena medus'' is a butterfly found in

south Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is the only species in the genus ''Orsotriaena'', first described by

Hans Daniel Johan Wallengren Hans Daniel Johan Wallengren (8 June 1823 – 25 October 1894) was a Swedish clergyman and entomologist. Biography He was born in Lund, Sweden. Wallengren became a student at Lund University from 1842, was ordained a priest in 1847 and was ap ...

in 1858.

Historical name

The butterfly has historically been called the

nigger In the English language, ''nigger'' is a racial slur directed at black people. Starting in the 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been increasingly replaced by the euphemistic contraction , notably in cases where ''nigger'' is Use–menti ...

referring to its dark brown colour, but it has been renamed in Australian faunal works to smooth-eyed bushbrown,Australian Faunal Directory, Government of

(Dept of Environment & Water Resources
page on ''Orsotriaena medus''
Accessed 28 April 2018 medus brown in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, and dark grass-brown in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

Description

''Orsotriaena medus'' is a medium-sized butterfly with wingspan of . The butterfly is dark brown above with a thin marginal pale border. The upper hindwing having a thin submarginal line. There are no eyespots on the upperside of the wings. Below, the butterfly has a white discal band which runs across both wings. It has five eyespots on the underside of the wings. In the forewing, it has two eyespots, with the anterior eyespot slightly smaller. In the hindwing, it has two eyespots on the apical region and a separate ocellus in the tornal (hindmost) region. The uppermost of the eyespots in the hindwing are greatly smaller, while the remaining two are more or less of equal sizes. The eggs are spherical and yellowish. They are laid on the leaf blades and stems of grasses. The

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e are spindle shaped, transversely wrinkled, and covered in small tubercles, giving it a rough appearance. Two long brown spines on the head point forward, while a pair of pinkish prongs project from the anal segment. The colour above is rosy red with a blue dorsal and a white lateral line, below which, the underparts are green. The

pupa A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages th ...

e are perpendicularly suspended, slender and regular, except that the head-case is produced into a long beak formed of two thin processes like split straws. The colour is whitish brown to yellow, with faint bands of a darker shades. It resembles a large grain of barley or a tiny banana. ''Orsotriaena medus'' superficially resembles members of the genus ''

Mycalesis ''Mycalesis'', the bushbrowns, are a genus of Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterfly, butterflies. They are common in the warm regions from Central Asia to Australia, and have a high diversity in South Asia and the Wallacea. They are notably polymo ...

'' (bushbrowns), but can readily be identified by the number of spots. File:Orsotriaena medus cinerea, Bali, Indonesia I.jpg, ''Orsotriaena medus cinerea'',

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

File:OrsotriaenaMedus.png, 1905 illustration of ''Orsotriaena medus'' File:Orsotriaena medus moira.jpg, ''Orsotriaena medus moira'', the upper surfaces of the wings of the species are unmarked and plain brown File:Orsotriaena medus mandata-Kadavoor-2016-02-07-001.jpg, Mating pair

Distribution and habitat

''Orsotriaena medus'' is native to

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, southern

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, the

n archipelago, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...

and

. In

, the butterfly occurs in

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

Sikkim Sikkim ( ; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Koshi Province of Nepal in the west, and West Bengal in the ...

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

Nagaland Nagaland () is a States and union territories of India, state in the northeast India, north-eastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south, and the Naga Sel ...

, the

Andaman Andaman may refer to: * Andaman Islands, an island group in the Bay of Bengal * Andaman Island, Penang, an artificial island in George Town, Penang * Andaman Sea, a sea of the eastern Indian Ocean * ''Andaman'' (1998 film), an Indian Kannada-lang ...

and

Nicobar Islands The Nicobar Islands are an archipelago, archipelagic island chain in the eastern Indian Ocean. They are located in Southeast Asia, northwest of Aceh on Sumatra, and separated from Thailand to the east by the Andaman Sea. Located southeast of t ...

. ''O. medus'' is very common in grassy habitats up to an altitude of . A shy, weak-flying insect, it stays low amongst the undergrowth, and when disturbed flies for a short distance before settling down. The butterfly basks in the sun, often with its body aligned parallel to the sun's rays.

Taxonomy

''Orsotriaena medus'' is classified under the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Satyrinae The Satyrinae, the satyrines or satyrids, commonly known as the browns, are a subfamily of the Nymphalidae (brush-footed butterflies). They were formerly considered a distinct family, Satyridae. This group contains nearly half of the known divers ...

(the browns) of the brush-footed butterfly family

Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species ha ...

. ''Orsotriaena medus'' is divided into several

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

, listed below with their respective

synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

and geographical ranges. *''Orsotriaena'' Wallengren, 1858 ::syn. ''Orstriaena'' Young, 1903; ''Orsotrioena'' Bingham, 1905 :*''Orsotriaena medus'' (Fabricius, 1775) :::syn. ''Papilio medus'' Fabricius, 1775; ''Mycalesis mandosa'' Butler, 1868 :::* ''Orsotriaena medus cinerea'' (Butler, 1867) –

Sundaland Sundaland (also called Sundaica or the Sundaic region) is a biogeographical region of Southeast Asia corresponding to a larger landmass that was exposed throughout the last 2.6 million years during periods when sea levels were lower. It inc ...

:::::syn. ''Mycalesis cinerea'' Butler, 1867 :::* ''Orsotriaena medus jopas'' (Hewitson, 1864) – North

Sulawesi Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...

:::::syn. ''Mycalesis jopas'' Hewitson, 1864 :::*''Orsotriaena medus mandata'' (Moore, 1857) –

:::::syn. ''Mycalesis mandata'' Moore, 1857 :::* ''Orsotriaena medus medus'' (Fabricius, 1775) – N. India to Thailand, Timor, the

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

, South

:::::syn. ''Papilio hesione'' Cramer, 1775; ''Papilio doris'' Stoll, 1781; ''Mycalesis runeka'' Moore, 1857 :::* ''Orsotriaena medus mendice'' (Fruhstorfer, 1911) – South

:::::syn. ''Orsotriaena mendice'' Fruhstorfer 1911 :::* ''Orsotriaena medus moira'' (Waterhouse & Lyell, 1914) – Banks Island, Darnley Island, Cape York :::::syn. ''Orsotriaena moira'' Waterhouse & Lyell, 1914 :::* ''Orsotriaena medus mutata'' (Butler, 1875) –

:::::syn. ''Orsotriaena mutata'' Butler, 1875 :::* ''Orsotriaena medus paupercula'' (Fruhstorfer, 1908) –

Sula Islands The Sula Islands are an archipelago of Indonesia. They consist of islands of the Taliabu Island Regency Taliabu Island Regency () is a regency in the North Maluku province of Indonesia, consisting primarily of the island of Taliabu, the most ...

:::::syn. ''Orsotriaena paupercula'' Fruhstorfer, 1908 :::* ''Orsotriaena medus zipoetina'' (Fruhstorfer, 1908) –

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

:::::syn. ''Orsotriaena zipoetina'' Fruhstorfer, 1908

Ecology and behaviour

The larvae feed on

grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

es, including rice plants (''

Oryza sativa ''Oryza sativa'', having the common name Asian cultivated rice, is the much more common of the two rice species cultivated as a cereal, the other species being ''Oryza glaberrima, O. glaberrima'', African rice. It was History of rice cultivation ...

''), sugarcanes (''

Saccharum officinarum ''Saccharum officinarum'' is a large, strong-growing species of grass in the sugarcane genus. Its stout stalks are rich in sucrose, a disaccharide sugar which accumulates in the stalk internodes. It originated in New Guinea, and is now cultivate ...

''), and para grass (''

Brachiaria mutica ''Urochloa mutica'', commonly known as para grass, buffalo grass, Mauritius signal grass, pasto pare, malojilla, gramalote, parana, Carib grass, and Scotch grass, is a species of grass.Stone, Katharine R. 2010''Urochloa mutica''.In: Fire Effects ...

''). They are predominantly

crepuscular In zoology, a crepuscular animal is one that is active primarily during the twilight period, being matutinal (active during dawn), vespertine (biology), vespertine/vespertinal (active during dusk), or both. This is distinguished from diurnalit ...

, but can sometimes be active during daytime.

References

External links

Review of book on Australian insect names
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2715907 Elymniini Butterflies of Asia Butterflies of Malaysia Butterflies of Indonesia Butterflies of Singapore Butterflies of Borneo Butterflies of Indochina Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius Butterflies described in 1775