''Junonia lemonias'', the lemon pansy,
[ is a common ]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 found in 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 ...
and 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 ...
.fallow
Fallow is a farming technique in which arable land is left without sowing for one or more vegetative cycles. The goal of fallowing is to allow the land to recover and store Organic compound, organic matter while retaining moisture and disrupting ...
land, and open wooded areas.
Description
It is brown with numerous eyespots as well as black and lemon-yellow spots and lines on the upperside of the wings. The underside is a dull brown, with a number of wavy lines and spots in varying shades of brown and black. There is also an eyespot on the lower side of the forewing. The wet- and dry-season forms differ considerably in coloration and even shape. In the wet-season form the markings are distinct and vivid and the wing shape is a little more rounded. In the dry-season form the markings are obscure and pale especially on the underside and the wing margin is more angular and jagged. This helps it camouflage
Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...
in the dried leaf litter.crab spider
The Thomisidae are a family of spiders, including about 170 genera and over 2,100 species. The common name crab spider is often linked to species in this family, but is also applied loosely to many other families of spiders. Many members of thi ...
preying on a lemon pansy
File:Egg of Junonia lemonias (Linnaeus, 1758) - Lemon Pansy.jpg, Egg
File:Junonia lemonias - Lemon Pansy pupa 06.jpg, Pupa
Life cycle
Eggs
Eggs are laid singly on the underside of leaves. The egg is green and barrel shaped with longitudinal ridges.
Caterpillar
The caterpillar is cylindrical, uniformly thick and covered with rows of spines which are branched at the tip. It is dull black with a faint blue sheen and has dorsal stripe of a darker color. There is a distinct orange ring behind the head. The caterpillar stays on the underside of the leaf and if disturbed, rolls up and drops to the ground.
Pupa
Pupation takes place in dense foliage close to the ground. 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 ...
is compact, with small conical processes on its rough surface. The pupa is well camouflaged with varying shades of brown with fine streaks and lines.
Food plants
Caterpillars feed on plants 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 ...
, Amaranthaceae
Amaranthaceae ( ) is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus '' Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, maki ...
, Malvaceae
Malvaceae (), or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include Theobroma cacao, cacao, Cola (plant), cola, cotton, okra, Hibiscus sabdariffa, ...
, Rubiaceae
Rubiaceae () is a family (biology), family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with Petiole ( ...
, Tiliaceae
Tiliaceae () is a family of flowering plants. It is not a part of the APG, APG II and APG III classifications, being sunk in Malvaceae mostly as the subfamilies Tilioideae, Brownlowioideae and Grewioideae, but has an extensive historical re ...
and 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 ...
. Recorded species include '' Alternanthera sessilis'', ''Barleria cristata
''Barleria cristata'', the Philippine violet, bluebell barleria or crested Philippine violet, is a plant species in the family Acanthaceae.
Distribution and habitat
It is native to a wide area ranging from Southern China to India and Myanmar.
...
'', ''Barleria prionitis
''Barleria prionitis'' is a shrub in the family Acanthaceae, native to Island and Mainland Southeast Asia, China, the Indian Subcontinent, the Arabian Peninsula and northeastern Africa. It is widely spread as an ornamental and weed, occurring in ...
'', '' Blechum pyramidatum'', ''Cannabis sativa
''Cannabis sativa'' is an annual Herbaceous plant, herbaceous flowering plant. The species was first classified by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. The specific epithet ''Sativum, sativa'' means 'cultivated'. Indigenous to East Asia, Eastern Asia, the pla ...
'', ''Corchorus capsularis
''Corchorus capsularis'' (also known as patsun), commonly known as white jute, is a shrub species in the family Malvaceae. It is one of the sources of jute fibre, considered to be of finer quality than fibre from '' Corchorus olitorius'', the mai ...
'', '' Dyschoriste repens'', '' Eranthemum pulchellum'', '' Hemigraphis schomburgkii'', '' Hygrophila auriculata'', '' Hygrophila costata'', '' Hygrophila lancea'', '' Lepidagathis formosensis'', '' Lepidagathis incurva'', '' Nelsonia canescens'', '' Ophiorrhiza japonica'', '' Phyla nodiflora'', ''Ruellia tuberosa
''Ruellia tuberosa'', also known as minnieroot, fever root, snapdragon root and sheep potato (), is a species of flowering plant in the family Acanthaceae. Its native range is in Central America but it has become naturalized in Africa (Tanzania ...
'', ''Sida rhombifolia
''Sida rhombifolia'', commonly known as arrowleaf sida, is a perennial plant, perennial or sometimes annual plant, annual plant in the Family Malvaceae, native to the Old World tropics and subtropics. Other common names include rhombus-leaved sid ...
'', and '' Strobilanthes formosanus''.[HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/projects/hostplants/) accessed on September 13, 2007.]
See also
*List of butterflies of India
The following is a list of the butterflies of India.
India has extremely diverse terrain, climate and vegetation, which comprises extremes of heat cold, desert and jungle, of low-lying plains and the highest mountains, of dryness and dampness, is ...
Notes
References
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External links
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{{Taxonbar, from=Q714543
lemonias
Butterflies described in 1758
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Butterflies of Indochina