''Junonia orithya'' is a

nymphalid 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 have ...

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

with many

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 ...

occurring from Africa, through southern and south-eastern Asia, and in

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 ...

. 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 ...

, its common English name is the blue pansy, but in

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...

it is known as the eyed pansy as the name ''blue pansy'' refers to ''

Junonia oenone ''Junonia oenone'', the blue pansy or dark blue pansy, is a Nymphalid butterfly native to Africa.Williams, M. (1994). ''Butterflies of Southern Africa; A Field Guide''. . "Blue pansy" is also used in India to describe '' Junonia orithya''.

''.Williams, M. (1994). ''Butterflies of Southern Africa; A Field Guide''. In Australia, this butterfly is known as the blue argus, but this name also is used for the '' Aricia anteros'' in Europe. The Blue Pansy has been declared as the state butterfly of the

union territory Among the states and union territories of India, a Union Territory (UT) is a region that is directly governed by the Government of India, central government of India, as opposed to the states, which have their own State governments of India, s ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

in India.

Description

Junonia orithya female blue-type back 20140322

Male upperside: somewhat more than half the forewing from base velvety black, apical half dull fuliginous; cell-area with or without two short transverse orange bars; a blue patch above, the tornus; the outer margin of the basal black area obliquely zigzag in a line from the middle of costa to apex of vein 2, including a large discal, generally obscure

ocellus A simple eye or ocellus (sometimes called a pigment pit) is a form of eye or an optical arrangement which has a single lens without the sort of elaborate retina that occurs in most vertebrates. These eyes are called "simple" to distinguish the ...

, which, however, in some specimens is prominently ringed with orange yellow. Beyond this a broad white irregularly oblique discal band followed by a short oblique preapical bar from costa; a small black orange-ringed ocellus beneath the bar, a subterminal continuous line of white spots in the interspaces and a terminal jet-black slender line; cilia alternately dusky black and white. Hindwing blue shaded with velvety black towards base; a postdiscal black white-centred orange and black-ringed ocellus in interspace 2, a round minutely white-centred velvety-black spot (sometimes entirely absent) in interspace 5; the termen narrowly white, traversed by an inner and an outer subterminal and a terminal black line; cilia white. Underside forewing: basal half with three black-edged, sinuous, broad, ochraceous-orange transverse bands, followed by the pale discal baud; ocelli, preapical short bar, subterminal and terminal markings much as on the upperside; the discal band margined inwardly by a broad black angulated line which follows the outline of the black area of the upperside. Hindwing irrorated (sprinkled) with dusky scales and transversely crossed by subbasal and discal slender zigzag brown lines and a postdiscal dark shade, on which are placed the two ocelli as on the upperside; subterminal and terminal faint brown lines, and a brownish short streak tipped black at the tornal angle below the lower ocellus. Female. Similar, with similar but larger and more clearly defined ocelli and markings; the basal half of the forewings and hindwings on the upperside fuliginous (sooty) brown, scarcely any trace of blue on the hindwing. Antennae brown, head reddish brown, thorax and abdomen above brownish black: palpi, thorax and abdomen beneath dull white.

Life history

Larvae

"Head and body of a very dark shining black shading into brown. ... head on a short neck, latter of an orange colour for a short distance; caudal extremity also tipped with orange. Body covered with perpendicular spines armed with strong radial hairs. ... Head bifurcated, reddish spot in centre of face, a small spinous process in the angle of each eye." (Forsayeth in de Nicéville)

Pupae

The pupa is "suspended by tail, naked; wing-covers of a muddy yellow; rest of body of a purplish colour variegated by lines of a dull creamy white. Slight projections of an angular nature along abdomen." (Idem.)

Adults

The adults occur in open areas, often sitting on bare ground. This species has a stiff flap and glide style of flight and maintains a territory, driving away other butterflies that enter it.

Food plants

Larval host plants are recorded from the families

Acanthaceae Acanthaceae () is a Family (biology), family (the acanthus family) of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing almost 250 genera and about 2500 species. Most are Tropics, tropical Herbaceous plant, herbs, shrubs, or twining vines; some are epip ...

Annonaceae The Annonaceae are a Family (biology), family of flowering plants consisting of trees, shrubs, or rarely lianas commonly known as the custard apple family or soursop family. With 108 accepted genera and about 2400 known species, it is the largest ...

Convolvulaceae Convolvulaceae (), commonly called the bindweed, bindweeds or morning glory, morning glories, is a Family (biology), family of about 60 genera and more than 1,650 species. These species are primarily herbaceous vines, but also include trees, sh ...

Labiatae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle, or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, sav ...

Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae, the plantain family or veronica family, is a large, diverse family (biology), family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as Antirrhinum, snapdragon and Digitalis, foxglove. It is unrelated ...

Scrophulariaceae The Scrophulariaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the figwort family. The plants are annual and perennial herbs, as well as shrubs. Flowers have bilateral (zygomorphic) or rarely radial (actinomorphic) symmetry. The Scr ...

Verbenaceae The Verbenaceae ( ), the verbena family or vervain family, is a family of mainly tropical flowering plants. It contains trees, shrubs, and herbs notable for heads, spikes, or clusters of small flowers, many of which have an aromatic smell. T ...

Violaceae Violaceae is a family of flowering plants established in 1802, consisting of about 1000 species in about 25 genera. It takes its name from the genus '' Viola'', the violets and pansies. Older classifications such as the Cronquist system plac ...

and specific plants are '' Angelonia salicariifolia'', ''

Annona senegalensis ''Annona senegalensis'', commonly known as African custard-apple, wild custard apple, wild soursop, abo ibobo (Yoruba language), (Mandinka language), and (Wolof language) is a species of flowering plant in the custard apple family, Annonaceae. ...

'', ''

Antirrhinum majus ''Antirrhinum majus'', the common snapdragon (often – especially in horticulture – simply "snapdragon"), is a species of flowering plant belonging to the genus ''Antirrhinum''. The plant was placed in the family Plantaginaceae following a r ...

'', '' Asystasia gangetica'', '' Asystasia scandens'', '' Buchnera linearis'', '' Englerastrum scandens'', ''

Hygrophila salicifolia Hygrophila may refer to: * Hygrophila (gastropod) Hygrophila is a taxonomic superorder of air-breathing freshwater snails, aquatic pulmonate gastropod mollusks within the clade Panpulmonata.MolluscaBase eds. (2020). MolluscaBase. Hygrophila ...

'', ''

Hygrophila senegalensis Hygrophila may refer to: * Hygrophila (gastropod), a superorder of freshwater snails * Hygrophila (plant), ''Hygrophila'' (plant), a plant genus * Arum#Taxonomy, ''Hygrophila'', a plant subsection {{Taxonomy disambiguation ...

'', ''

Ipomoea batatas The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of the ...

'', '' Justicia micrantha'', ''

Justicia procumbens ''Rostellularia procumbens'', commonly known as water willow (, , ,), is a small flowering plant belonging to the Acanthaceae family. It is native to the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, China, Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, the Phi ...

'', '' Lepidagathis formosensis'', '' Lepidagathis prostrata'', ''

Misopates orontium ''Misopates orontium'', known as weasel's snout, is a herbaceous annual plant in the family Plantaginaceae. It is a native of disturbed ground in Europe. It is also naturalised as a weed in other parts of the world such as North America. The pink ...

'', ''

Phyla nodiflora ''Phyla nodiflora'', commonly known as lippia, kurapia, and frogfruit, is a species of flowering plant in the family Verbenaceae. It can be found in the tropics around the globe. It is often grown as an ornamental plant for ground cover, and is o ...

'', '' Plantago amplexicaulis'', '' Plectranthus scandens'', '' Pseuderanthemum variabile'', ''

Striga asiatica ''Striga asiatica'', the Asiatic witchweed or the red witchweed, is a hemiparasitic plant in the family Orobanchaceae. It is native to Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, but has been introduced into other parts of the world including Australia and th ...

'', ''

Striga hermonthica ''Striga hermonthica'', commonly known as purple witchweed or giant witchweed, is a hemiparasitic plant that belongs to the family Orobanchaceae. It is devastating to major crops such as sorghum (''Sorghum bicolor'') and rice (''Oryza sativa'') ...

'', ''

Thunbergia alata ''Thunbergia alata'', commonly called black-eyed Susan vine, is a herbaceous perennial climbing plant species in the family Acanthaceae. It is native to Eastern Africa, and has been naturalized in other parts of the world. It is grown as an orn ...

'', ''

Viola odorata ''Viola odorata'' is a species of flowering plant in the family ''Violaceae'' native to Eurasia. The small hardy herbaceous perennial is commonly known as wood violet, sweet violet, English violet, common violet, florist's violet, or garden viol ...

''HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/projects/hostplants/) accessed on July 3, 2007. In southern Africa the food plants are; ''

Graderia subintegra ''Graderia subintegra'' is a species of plant in the family Orobanchaceae Orobanchaceae, the broomrapes, is a family (biology), family of mostly parasitic plants of the order (biology), order Lamiales, with about 90 genus, genera and more tha ...

'', ''

Cycnium adonense ''Cycnium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Orobanchaceae. Its native range is tropical and southern Africa and Madagascar. Plants in this genus are annual or perennial hemiparasitic herbs or small shrubs that turn black when they d ...

'', '' Hygrophila'' species and ''

Plectranthus ''Plectranthus'' is a genus of about 85 species of flowering plants from the sage family, Lamiaceae, found mostly in southern and tropical Africa and Madagascar. Common names include spur-flower. ''Plectranthus'' species are herbaceous perennial ...

'' species.

Gallery

File:Blue pansy (junonia orithya here).jpg, In the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

File:Blue pansy (junonia orithya here) underside.jpg, In the United Arab Emirates File:Blue pansy chrysalis.jpg, Chrysalis File:Evolvulus blue.jpg, ''

Evolvulus ''Evolvulus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the Convolvulaceae, the morning glory family. They are known generally as dwarf morning glories.Komodo National Park Komodo National Park ( Indonesian: ''Taman Nasional Komodo'') is a national park in Indonesia located within the Lesser Sunda Islands in the border region between the provinces of East Nusa Tenggara and West Nusa Tenggara. The park includes the ...

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:Blue pansy butterfly (Junonia orithya minagara) male underside Komodo I.jpg, ''J. o. minagara'' male, Komodo National Park, Indonesia Green bee-eater (Merops orientalis) with blue pansy composite.jpg, ''J. o. ocyale'' eaten by green bee-eater,

Wrightia antidysenterica at Kepong Botanical Garden 20230625 104048.jpg, In

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 ...

Subspecies

*''Junonia orithya albicincta'' Butler, 1875 (northern Australia, Cape York to Brisbane) *''Junonia orithya baweana'' Fruhstorfer, 1906 (Bawean) *''Junonia orithya celebensis'' Staudinger,

888 888 commonly refers to: * 888 (number), an integer * 888 BC, a year of the 9th century BC * AD 888, a year of the Julian calendar 888 or triple eight may also refer to: Telecommunication * 888 is prefix/area code for toll-free telephone num ...

/small> (Sulawesi, Muna) *''Junonia orithya eutychia'' (Fruhstorfer, 1912) (Timor, Wetar, Babar, Kissar) *''Junonia orithya hainanensis'' (Fruhstorfer, 1912) (Hainan) *''Junonia orithya here'' Lang, 1884 (Saudi Arabia, Yemen) *''Junonia orithya kontinentalis'' Martin, 1920 (Sulawesi) *''Junonia orithya kuehni'' Fruhstorfer, 1904 (Lesser Sunda Islands, Kalao, Tukangbesi) *''Junonia orithya leucasia'' (Fruhstorfer, 1912) (Philippines) *''Junonia orithya madagascariensis'' Guenée, 1865 (Sub-Saharan Africa) *''Junonia orithya marcella'' (Hulstaert, 1923) (New Guinea) *''Junonia orithya metion'' Fruhstorfer, 1905 (Borneo) *''Junonia orithya mevaria'' Fruhstorfer, 1904 (Lombok) *''Junonia orithya minagara'' Fruhstorfer, 1904 (Java, Bali, Komodo Islands) *''Junonia orithya minusculus'' Fruhstorfer, 1906 (Sumba) *''Junonia orithya neopommerana'' Ribbe, 1898 (New Britain) *''Junonia orithya novaeguineae'' Hagen, 1897 (New Guinea to Papua) *''Junonia orithya ocyale'' Hübner,

819 __NOTOC__ Year 819 ( DCCCXIX) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Emperor Louis I marries Judith of Bavaria in Aachen.Rogers, Barbara, Bernhard W. Scholz, and Nithard ...

/small> (India to southern Burma and southern Yunnan) *''Junonia orithya orithya '' (Oriental region) *''Junonia orithya orthosia'' (Godart,

824 __NOTOC__ Year 824 ( DCCCXXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. Events By date * February 8 – The Tenchō era begins in Japan at the beginning of the reign of the Emperor Junna, bringing an end to the ...

(Ambon, Serang, Saparua, Sula Islands, Maluku) *''Junonia orithya palea'' (Fruhstorfer, 1912) (Tanimbar) *''Junonia orithya patenas'' (Fruhstorfer, 1912) (Sri Lanka) *''Junonia orithya saleyra'' (Fruhstorfer, 1912) (Salayar) *''Junonia orithya sumatrana'' Fruhstorfer, 1906 (Sumatra) *''Junonia orithya swinhoei'' Butler, 1885 (Burma) *''Junonia orithya wallacei'' Distant, 1883 (Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q714571 , from2=Q46890295 , from3=Q108923157

orithya In Greek mythology, Orithyia or Oreithyia (; ; ) was the name of the following women: *Orithyia or Orythya, the Nereid of raging seas and one of the 50 marine-nymph daughters of the 'Old Man of the Sea' Nereus and the Oceanid Doris. She and her ...

Butterflies of Africa Butterflies of Asia Butterflies of Indochina Butterflies of Borneo Butterflies of Singapore Butterflies described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus