Hypolimnas anomala

Hypolimnas anomala (Wallace, 1869)
(one synonym: Diadema albula)
Malayan Eggfly
NYMPHALINAE , NYMPHALIDAE

Don Herbison-Evans ( donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley

(Specimen: courtesy of the The Australian Museum)

The Caterpillar of this species is black spotted with yellow. It has yellow branched spines tipped with black. Its head is yellow with two branched black spines. It feeds on :

various species of URTICACEAE.

The adults have forewings that are brown with a subterminal double arc of white spots on each wing, and three faint pale streaks toward the centre of each forewing,. The hindwings are are paler, especially toward the rear, with dark veins. The undersides are similar. The wingspan is about 7 cms. The adult butterflies only have four legs.

The species occurs as various subspecies across south-east Asia, including:

Taiwan,
and the subspecies albula occurs in

Northern Territory, and

Queensland in Australia.

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby, Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 566-567.