''Elymnias malelas'', the spotted palmfly, is a

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 ...

in the 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 ...

. It was described by

William Chapman Hewitson William Chapman Hewitson (9 January 1806, in Newcastle upon Tyne – 28 May 1878, in Oatlands Park, Surrey) was a British naturalist. A wealthy collector, Hewitson was particularly devoted to Coleoptera (beetles) and Lepidoptera (butterflies a ...

in 1863. It is found in northern India and Indochina in the

Indomalayan realm The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Ind ...

. Seitz, A., 1912-1927. ''Die Indo-Australien Tagfalter Grossschmetterlinge Erde'' 9

Subspecies

*''E. m. malelas'' (northern India, Sikkim) *''E. m. ivena'' Fruhstorfer, 1911 (southern Yunnan, Thailand, Vietnam)

Biology

Larvae feed on ''

Trachycarpus fortunei ''Trachycarpus fortunei'', also known as the Chusan palm,Bean, W. J. (1980). ''Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles'', 8th ed., vol. 4. John Murray. . Chinese windmill palm, or simply the Windmill palm, is a species of hardy evergreen pal ...

'' and ''

Musa paradisiaca Musa may refer to: Places *Mūša, a river in Lithuania and Latvia * Musa, Azerbaijan, a village in Yardymli Rayon *Musa, Iran, a village in Ilam province, Iran * Musa, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Iran * Musa Kalayeh, Gilan province, Iran *Abu Mus ...

''. The butterfly mimics ''

Euploea mulciber ''Euploea mulciber'', the striped blue crow, is a butterfly found in India and Southeast Asia that belongs to the crows and tigers, that is, the danaid group of the brush-footed butterflies family. File:TrepsichroisLinnaei 35 1a.jpg, male dorsal ...

''.

References

External links

"''Elymnias'' Hübner, 1818"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' Elymnias Butterflies described in 1863 Butterflies of Indochina Taxa named by William Chapman Hewitson {{Nymphalidae-stub