my-server
← Wiki

Delias aruna

Delias aruna, the golden Jezebel, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in Queensland, Irian Jaya, Maluku, Papua New Guinea and several surrounding islands.

Description

Sexually dimorphic.The male upper ground colour is yellow to orange.The forewing apex is black apex and there is a narrow black band marginal hindwing band.The female is black, with an orange basal area and obscure orange apical spots. The undersides of both sexes are dark brown. The male has a yellow forewing patch and a scarlet mark near the base of each hindwing. The female has arcs of yellow spots around the margin of the undersides of all wings. Both sexes have wingspans of c. 7 cms. D aruna is very variable across its large range.

Subspecies

  • Delias aruna aruna (northern Moluccas, Waigeu, West Irian to northern New Guinea) light yellow basal region on the hindwing above.
  • Delias aruna irma <small>Fruhstorfer, 1907</small> (Papua (Milne Bay)) the darkest known race; male beneath almost entirely black, also above with broader margins than inferna.
  • Delias aruna inferna <small>Butler, 1871</small> (Cape York to Coen) - orange Jezabel in the female above no yellow transverse spot at the discocellular of the forewing, which, however, appears again beneath. very similar to irma.
  • Delias aruna rona <small>Rothschild, 1898</small>(Roon Island)
  • Delias aruna seriata ( Bachan, Obi, Halmahera, Kasiruta and Gebi islands).
  • Delias aruna arovana <small>Fruhstorfer, H. 1913 </small> (Rossel and Sud-Est islands)
  • Delias aruna rana <small>Swinhoe, 1916</small> (Ambon Island)
  • Delias aruna sarera<small> Yagishita, 1994 </small> (Manawi, Yapen Island)
  • form madala <small>Fruhstorfer, 1907</small> (German New Guinea) Distal margin narrow, the ground-colour above orange, whilst on the under surface the red costal and discal spot are considerably larger and hence the black distal margin is reduced.
  • form bajura (Waigeu) pale yellow basal part of the hindwing above;sharply defined and narrower white transverse spot before the cell of the forewing.

Biology

They fly singly, mostly met with in July in open woods. The butter¬ flies are fond of visiting the flowers of Syzygium jambos, on which they have been found even at elevations of 1000 ft.

Gallery

References

External links