''Delias aruna'', the golden Jezebel, is a

butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

in the family

Pieridae The Pieridae are a large family of butterflies with about 76 genera containing about 1,100 species, mostly from tropical Africa and tropical Asia with some varieties in the more northern regions of North America and Eurasia.DeVries P. J. in Levi ...

. It is found in

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

, Irian Jaya, Maluku,

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

and several surrounding islands. The

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan of ...

is 70 mm. The larvae feed on mistletoe species, especially ''

Dendrophthoe glabrescens ''Dendrophthoe glabrescens'', commonly known as orange mistletoe, is a hemiparasitic plant of the mistletoe family Loranthaceae, found in eastern and northern Australia. It flowers from October to January. The flowers are tubular, with a green ba ...

''. They live and feed in a loose silken web.

Subspecies

* ''Delias aruna aruna'' (northern Moluccas, Waigeu, West Irian to northern New Guinea) * ''Delias aruna irma'' Fruhstorfer, 1907 (Papua (Milne Bay)) * ''Delias aruna inferna'' Butler, 1871 (Cape York to Coen) - orange Jezabel * ''Delias aruna rona'' Rothschild, 1898 (Roon Island) * ''Delias aruna seriata'' (Bacan)

External links

Australian Insects

The Life History of ''Delias aruna inferna''
aruna Butterflies described in 1832 {{Pieridae-stub