''Catopsilia scylla'', the orange migrant or orange emigrant, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

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 ...

that lives in

South East 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

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

. Its larvae feed predominantly on plants of the genera '' Cassia'' and '' Senna''.

Description

Adults are approximately long. The males have white forewings edged in black, and cadmium-yellow hindwings, usually with black spots on the margins. Females are similar, but have an additional group of black spots on the forewing, which often merge to form a dark ring.

Distribution

''Catopsilia scylla'' has a wide distribution in

and

. Its range stretches from

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, and

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

, along the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula is located in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area contains Peninsular Malaysia, Southern Tha ...

, across

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

and

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. ...

, and over northern

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 was recently discovered in

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, ...

Host plants

, ''C. scylla'' has been recorded on various species of '' Senna'', including '' S. didymobotrya'', '' S. leptoclada'' and '' S. surattensis''. In

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, host plants include ''

Senna obtusifolia ''Senna obtusifolia'', known by common names including Chinese senna, American sicklepod and sicklepod, is a plant in the genus '' Senna'', sometimes separated in the monotypic genus ''Diallobus''. It grows wild in North, Central, and South Amer ...

'', ''

Cassia fistula ''Cassia fistula'', also known as golden shower, purging cassia, Indian laburnum, kani konna, or pudding-pipe tree,U. S. Department of Agriculture, William Saunders; Catalogue of Economic Plants in the Collection of the U. S. Department of Agric ...

'', and especially ''

Senna pallida Senna may refer to: Individuals * Ayrton Senna (1960–1994), Brazilian F1 driver * Bruno Senna (born 1983), F1 driver and nephew of Ayrton * Danzy Senna (born 1970), novelist * Lorraine Senna, American film and television director * Marcos S ...

''. The eggs are milky white and spindle shaped, and are usually laid singly on a leaf of the host plant. The eggs hatch after 1.5–2 days, and the

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

s grow through five

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'' 'form, likeness') is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, which occurs between each moult (''ecdysis'') until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to ...

s over 11–13 days, to reach a final length of . The caterpillars are green and smooth, with a rounded head, and develops a series of black dots and a white lateral line on top of the plain green ground colour.

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 long, and are attached to the host plant in an upright position. After seven days, the adult emerges. Catopsilia scylla etesia

Taxonomy

''Catopsilia scylla'' was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

, as ''Papilio scylla'', in his 1763 work ''

Centuria Insectorum file:Centuria Insectorum.png, The first page of ''Centuria Insectorum'', as included in ''Amoenitates Academicæ'' ' (Latin, "one hundred insects") is a 1763 Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic work by Carl Linnaeus, and defended as a thesis by Boas Jo ...

''. The subspecies ''C. s. etesia'' (originally described as ''Catopsilia etesia'') is known in

as the orange migrant. Elsewhere, the species is called the orange emigrant. Other subspecies include ''C. s. praerubida'', ''C. s. sidra'', ''C. s. cornelia'', ''C. s. asema'', ''C. s. bangkeiana'' and ''C. s. moluccarum''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1940662 Coliadinae Butterflies of Malaysia Butterflies of Australia Butterflies described in 1763 Butterflies of Singapore Butterflies of Indochina Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Butterflies of Java Butterflies of Sri Lanka Lepidoptera of Sumatra Lepidoptera of the Philippines