as well as the introduced species :

The Caterpillar is black with cream spots and blue and red markings. It is covered sparsely in branched black spines, and has a pair of hairy horns on its head. The Caterpillar feeds nocturnally, hiding by day in debris on the ground by its foodplant.

(Photo: courtesy of Mark Hopkinson)

The pupa is smooth and brown, with a curvy black line along each side, and a few yellow spots . It hangs by a silk cremaster from the foodplant.

(Photo: courtesy of Paul Ament, Sunshine Coast, Queensland)

The adult butterflies have wings shaped so that the resting butterfly (with the wings closed over its back) looks like a leaf. There is a small tail to the hind wings. The upper surfaces of the wings are orange with a broad dark area around the wingtips.

underside
(Photo: courtesy of Todd Burrows, South Stradbroke Island)

The undersides purplish-brown with a vein-like mark running across both the fore and hind wings.

Solomon Islands 1982

The eggs are pale yellow and spherical, and are laid in small clusters on young growth of a foodplant.

The species is found across south-east Asia, from India to to Fiji, including :

(Photo: courtesy of Todd Burrows, South Stradbroke Island)

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby, Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 563-564.

previous caterpillar

Australian butterflies

Australian caterpillars

Australian moths

next caterpillar

(updated 21 February 2011)