Melanitis leda

Common evening brown
	Wet-season form
	Dry-season form
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Melanitis
Species:	M. leda
Binomial name
	Melanitis leda; (Linnaeus, 1758) Evening Common Brown resting on a window
Synonyms
	Papilio leda Linnaeus, 1758; Papilio ismene Cramer, [1775]; Papilio solandra Fabricius, 1775; Cyllo helena Westwood, 1851; Cyllo fulvescens Guénée, 1863; Melanitis leda africana Fruhstorfer, 1908; Melanitis leda africana f. zitenides Fruhstorfer, 1908; Melanitis leda ab. plagiata Aurivillius, 1911;

Melanitis leda, the common evening brown,^[1]^[2] is a common species of butterfly found flying at dusk. The flight of this species is erratic. They are found in Africa, South Asia and South-east Asia extending to parts of Australia.^[1]^[2]

Description

Wet-season form: Forewing: apex subacute; termen slightly angulated just below apex, or straight. Upperside brown. Forewing with two large subapical black spots, each with a smaller spot outwardly of pure white inwardly bordered by a ferruginous interrupted lunule; costal margin narrowly pale. Hindwing with a dark, white-centred, fulvous-ringed ocellus subterminally in interspace two, and the apical ocellus, sometimes also others of the ocelli, on the underside, showing through.^[3]

Underside paler, densely covered with transverse dark brown striae; a discal curved dark brown narrow band on forewing; a post-discal similar oblique band, followed by a series of ocelli: four on the forewing, that in interspace 8 the largest; six on the hindwing, the apical and subtornal the largest.^[3]^[4]

Dry-season form: Forewing: apex obtuse and more or less falcate; termen posterior to falcation straight or sinuous. Upperside: ground colour similar to that in the wet-season form, the markings, especially the ferruginous lunules inwardly bordering the black sub-apical spots on forewing, larger, more extended below and above the black costa. Hindwing: the ocellus in interspace 2 absent, posteriorly replaced by three or four minute white subterminal spots.^[3]

Underside varies in colour greatly. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen in both seasonal forms brown or greyish brown: the antennae annulated with white, ochraceous at apex.^[3]

Ecology

Resident butterflies are known to fight off visitors to the area during dusk hours.^[5] This chase behaviour is elicited even by pebbles thrown nearby.^[6]

The caterpillars feed on a wide variety of grasses including rice (Oryza sativa), bamboos, Andropogon, Rotboellia cochinchinensis,^[7] Brachiaria mutica,^[7] Cynodon, Imperata, and millets such as Oplismenus compositus,^[8] Panicum and Eleusine indica.^[9]

Adults feed mainly on nectar, and in rare cases visit rotting fruits.^[10]

Image gallery

caterpillar
Upperside pattern
Wet season
Dry season
M. l. ismene dry season forms, Nepal

References

^ ^a ^b Varshney, R.K.; Smetacek, Peter (2015). A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India. New Delhi: Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing, New Delhi. pp. 162–163. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164. ISBN 978-81-929826-4-9.
^ ^a ^b Savela, Markku. "Melanitis leda (Linnaeus, 1758)". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved July 2, 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Bingham, Charles Thomas (1905). Fauna of British India. Butterflies Vol. 1. pp. 158–159.
^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Moore, Frederic (1893–1896). Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. II. London: Lovell Reeve and Co. pp. 118–125.
^ D. J. Kermp (2003). "Twilight fighting in the evening brown butterfly, Melanitis leda (L.) (Nymphalidae): residency and age effects". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 54 (1): 7–13. doi:10.1007/s00265-003-0602-7. S2CID 36085557.
^ D. J. Kemp (2002). "Visual mate searching behaviour in the evening brown butterfly, Melanitis leda (L.) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)" (PDF). Australian Journal of Entomology. 41 (4): 300–305. doi:10.1046/j.1440-6055.2002.00311.x.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ ^a ^b S. Kalesh & S. K. Prakash (2007). "Additions of the larval host plants of butterflies of the Western Ghats, Kerala, Southern India (Rhopalocera, Lepidoptera): Part 1". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 104 (2): 235–238.
^ Krushnamegh Kunte (2006). "Additions to known larval host plants of Indian butterflies" (PDF). Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 103 (1): 119–120.
^ Gaden S. Robinson; Phillip R. Ackery; Ian J. Kitching; George W. Beccaloni; Luis M. Hernández (2007). "HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants". Retrieved September 27, 2010.
^ K. C. Hamer; J. K. Hill; S. Benedick; N. Mustaffa; V. K. Chey; M. Maryati (2006). "Diversity and ecology of carrion- and fruit-feeding butterflies in Bornean rain forest". Journal of Tropical Ecology. 22 (1): 25–33. doi:10.1017/S0266467405002750. S2CID 86365463.

[Smetacek-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. pp. 162–163. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164. ISBN 978-81-929826-4-9.

[funet-2] Savela, Markku. "Melanitis leda (Linnaeus, 1758)". Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms. Retrieved July 2, 2018.

[bingham-3] One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Bingham, Charles Thomas (1905). Fauna of British India. Butterflies Vol. 1. pp. 158–159.

[MooreIndica-4] One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Moore, Frederic (1893–1896). Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. II. London: Lovell Reeve and Co. pp. 118–125.

[5] D. J. Kermp (2003). "Twilight fighting in the evening brown butterfly, Melanitis leda (L.) (Nymphalidae): residency and age effects". Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 54 (1): 7–13. doi:10.1007/s00265-003-0602-7. S2CID 36085557.

[6] D. J. Kemp (2002). "Visual mate searching behaviour in the evening brown butterfly, Melanitis leda (L.) (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)" (PDF). Australian Journal of Entomology. 41 (4): 300–305. doi:10.1046/j.1440-6055.2002.00311.x.^{[permanent dead link]}

[kp-7] S. Kalesh & S. K. Prakash (2007). "Additions of the larval host plants of butterflies of the Western Ghats, Kerala, Southern India (Rhopalocera, Lepidoptera): Part 1". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 104 (2): 235–238.

[8] Krushnamegh Kunte (2006). "Additions to known larval host plants of Indian butterflies" (PDF). Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 103 (1): 119–120.

[9] Gaden S. Robinson; Phillip R. Ackery; Ian J. Kitching; George W. Beccaloni; Luis M. Hernández (2007). "HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants". Retrieved September 27, 2010.

[10] K. C. Hamer; J. K. Hill; S. Benedick; N. Mustaffa; V. K. Chey; M. Maryati (2006). "Diversity and ecology of carrion- and fruit-feeding butterflies in Bornean rain forest". Journal of Tropical Ecology. 22 (1): 25–33. doi:10.1017/S0266467405002750. S2CID 86365463.

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