''Melanocyma'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

butterfly genus in the subfamily

Morphinae The Morphinae are a 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 subfa ...

of 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 ...

. Its one species ''Melanocyma faunula'', the pallid faun, is restricted to

Burma 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 ha ...

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

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

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...

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 ...

. The wingspan of ''M. faunula'' is at around 90 millimetres. Individuals found in lowland forests are often smaller than specimens of ''M. faunula'' found on hills. There are two subspecies, ''M. f. kimurai'' and ''M. f. faunula''

Life History

M. faunula individuals are known to breed in primary rainforest. They are often seen in flight in the mid-story of primary rainforest. Individuals are often known to be baited with rotting fruit. They are known to be commonly found in

hill stations A hill station is a touristic town located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. The English term was originally used mostly in colonial Asia, but also in Africa (albeit rarely), for towns founded by European colonialists as ref ...

. The Pallid Faun's larvae feed on '' Orania sylvicola''. Their eggs hatch after 11 days, hatching within 12 hours. The eggs are 1.1 millimeters in diameter, and are yellow in colour changing to black with time. The Pallid Faun exhibits similar egg laying and feeding behaviour with '' Taenaris onolaus''.

Gallery

File:Pallid Faun 2.jpg, Pallid Faun (location: Cameron Highlands, Malaysia) File:Pallid Faun 3.jpg, Pallid Faun (location: Cameron Highlands, Malaysia)

References

External links

Images representing ''Melanocyma''
at Bold
TOL
Amathusiini Butterflies of Indochina Monotypic butterfly genera Taxa named by John O. Westwood Nymphalidae genera {{Morphinae-stub