Junonia iphita

Junonia iphita, the chocolate pansy[1][2] or chocolate soldier, is a butterfly found in Asia.[1][2]

Chocolate pansy
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Lepidoptera
Family:
Nymphalidae
Genus:
Junonia
Species:
J. iphita
Binomial name
Junonia iphita
(Cramer, 1779)
Synonyms
  • Precis iphita

The wingspan is about 5–6 cm (2.0–2.4 in) and the female can be told apart from the male by white markings on the oblique line on the underside of the hindwing. The wavy lines on the underside of the wings vary from wet- to dry-season forms.

Individuals maintain a territory and are usually found close to the ground level and often bask in the sun.

Description
For a key to the terms used, see Glossary of entomology terms.

Upperside of both sexes brown of varying depths of colour. Forewing: cell with one pair of subbasal and one pair of apical transverse sinuous fasciae, the outermost defining the discocellulars; a short, broad, dark, oblique fascia beyond to vein 4, its inner margin diffuse, its outer sinuous but sharply defined; below vein 4 a sinuous, transverse, more faint fascia, followed by a discal blackish fascia, very broad and diffuse, below costa, bordered by a row of faint ocelli, and a postdiscal and a subterminal similar fascia following the outline of the termen. Hindwing with a slender blackish loop near apex of cellular area; a broad inwardly diffuse, outwardly well-defined short discal fascia in continuation of the one on the forewing; a series of postdiscal somewhat ochraceous ocelli with black pupils minutely centred with white; postdiscal and subterminal broad lines as on the forewing.[3]

Underside brown, with very broad darker brown transverse fasciae, the interspaces between the markings irrorated (sprinkled) with purplish silvery scales. Forewing with two sinuous fasciae on basal half succeeded by a discal fascia, very broad at the costal margin and decreasing in width to the dorsum, bearing on its outer border a row of obscure ocelli. This is succeeded by a zigzag dark line, and sinuous subterminal and terminal lines; apex and tornal area suffused with purplish silvery. Hindwing: two irregular, very broad, dark brown, curved short fasciae near base; a straight, transverse, prominent, narrow ochreous-brown discal band defined outwardly by a black line; a transverse postdiscal dark brown fascia, widest in the middle and bearing outwardly a curved row of ochreous-brown white-centred ocelli, followed by a zigzag dark line in continuation of the one on the forewing; a subterminal somewhat diffuse dark fascia and a terminal dark line. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen dark brown.[3][4]

Life history

The eggs are often laid on the ground or on dry twigs near the host plants rather than on them. On hatching the larvae find their way to the host plants.

Larva

"Cylindrical, slightly pubescent and armed with nine longitudinal rows of many-branched spines, except on the head which is clothed with short bristles. ... Colour dark dull brown." (Davidson and Aitken)[3]

Pupa

The pupa "is regular, with three or five dorsal rows of small tubercular points, hung perpendicularly. ... Colour smoky brown."(Davidson & Aitken)[3]

Larval food plants

The larvae feed on a variety of plants of the family Acanthaceae species recorded are Hygrophila costata, Justicia micrantha, Justicia procumbens, Justicia sphaerosperma, Lepidagathis formosensis, Strobilanthes callosus and Strobilanthes formosanus.[5]

  • Upperside
  • Underside
  • Egg
  • Plate from Frederic Moore's The Lepidoptera of Ceylon depicting imagines, larva and pupa
  • Chocolate Pansy, Maharashtra
Chocolate Pansy, Location: Trivandrum, Kerala, India
gollark: I'm sure you'd like to think so.
gollark: That's just macroscale bees.
gollark: ?
gollark: If you don't know about apioforms, how will you live in today's increasingly bee-based world
gollark: Like what?

See also

References
  1. Varshney, R.K.; Smetacek, Peter (2015). A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India. New Delhi: Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing, New Delhi. p. 219. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164. ISBN 978-81-929826-4-9.
  2. Savela, Markku. "Junonia iphita (Cramer, [1779])". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
  3. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a work now in the public domain: Bingham, Charles Thomas (1905). Fauna of British India. Butterflies Vol. 1. pp. 356–357.
  4. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a work now in the public domain: Moore, Frederic (1899–1900). Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. IV. London: Lovell Reeve and Co. pp. 64–66.CS1 maint: date format (link)
  5. HOSTS – a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants (http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/projects/hostplants/) accessed on September 13, 2007.
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