''Lexias pardalis'', the common archduke, 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 ...

of the family

Nymphalidae The Nymphalidae are the largest family of butterflies, with more than 6,000 species distributed throughout most of the world. Belonging to the superfamily Papilionoidea, they are usually medium-sized to large butterflies. Most species have a red ...

Subspecies

Subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

include: * ''L. p. pardalis'' (

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

) * ''L. p. jadeitina'' (Fruhstorfer, 1913) (north-eastern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

– northern

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

, southern

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

) * ''L. p. eleanor'' (Fruhstorfer, 1898) (southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

) * ''L. p. nephritica'' (Fruhstorfer, 1913) (

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

) * ''L. p. nasiensis'' Tsukada, 1991 (

Nias Nias ( id, Pulau Nias, Nias language: ''Tanö Niha'') (sometimes called Little Sumatra in English) is an island located off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago () of which the island is the centre, ...

) * ''L. p. gigantea'' (Fruhstorfer, 1898) (

) * ''L. p. pallidulus'' Tsukada, 1991 (Musala Island) * ''L. p. dirteana'' (Corbet, 1941) (

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

) * ''L. p. ritsemae'' (Fruhstorfer, 1906) ( Bangka) * ''L. p. silawa'' (Fruhstorfer, 1913) (

Belitung Belitung ( Belitung Malay: ''Belitong'', formerly Billiton) is an island on the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia in the Java Sea. It covers , and had a population of 309,097 at the 2020 Census. Administratively, it forms two regencies (Bel ...

) * ''L. p. nigricans'' Hanafusa, 1989 (

Karimata The Karimata Islands are a chain of small islands off the west coast of Indonesian Borneo, the largest of which is (Pulau) Karimata, being about across (east-west). It is part of Kayong Utara Regency of West Kalimantan province in Indonesia. Kar ...

) * ''L. p. borneensis'' Tsukada, 1991 (

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

Natuna ''(Sacred Ocean, Fortune Land) , image_map = , pushpin_map = Indonesia Riau Islands#Indonesia Sumatra#Indonesia#South China Sea , pushpin_map_caption = Location in Riau Islands##Location in Sumatra##Location in I ...

Laut Laut may refer to: * Laut Island, South Kalimantan, Indonesia * Agnes Christina Laut (1871–1936), Canadian journalist, novelist, historian, and social worker * Frank Laut Frank Laut (September 27, 1884 – August 18, 1961) was a farmer and a ...

) * ''L. p. cavarna'' (Fruhstorfer, 1913) (

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Balabac Balabac Island is the southernmost island of the Palawan province, and therefore the westernmost undisputed island in the Philippines, only about north from Sabah, Malaysia, across the Balabac Strait. Administratively, the island forms the main ...

) * ''L. p. tethys'' Tsukada, 1991 (

Palawan Palawan (), officially the Province of Palawan ( cyo, Probinsya i'ang Palawan; tl, Lalawigan ng Palawan), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in ...

) * ''L. p. ellora'' (Fruhstorfer, 1898) (

Mindoro Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 ( 4,082 sq.mi ) and has a population of 1,408,454 as of 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of Luz ...

) * ''L. p. saifuli'' Hanafusa, 1992

Distribution

This species can be found in the

Indomalayan realm The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Indi ...

."''Lexias'' Boisduval, 1832"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms''

Habitat

''Lexias pardalis'' prefer paths, clearings and edges of primary forests and they are easily sighted in sunny areas standing on the forest floor.

Description

''Lexias pardalis'' has a

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 ...

reaching about . This species exhibits a strong sexual dimorphism, with very different pattern and colour. The upperside of the wings of the male are black with shimmering greenish-blue margins, especially in the hindwings. The uppersides of the cryptic wings of the larger females are dark brown with several rows of yellow spots, a pale green pattern on the lower wings. The wing pattern of yellow spots continue across the thorax and the abdomen. The undersides in the males are brownish with whitish spots, while in the female the forewings are dark brown and the hindwings are pale bluish green, with whitish spots in both wings. The apical portion of the antennae are yellow orange in both sexes, while in the very similar species '' Lexias dirtea'' the clubs are black.

Biology

Larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...

e feed on ''

Cratoxylum formosum ''Cratoxylum formosum'' is a species of flowering plant in the Hypericaceae family. Its commercial name in timber production is "mampat". It is a tropical plant found in Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines ...

'' and '' Cratoxylum cochinchinense'', while adults mainly feed on rotting fruits, especially in the genus ''

Garcinia ''Garcinia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Clusiaceae native to Asia, America, Australia, tropical and southern Africa, and Polynesia. The number of species is disputed; Plants of the World Online (POWO) recognise up to 400. Common ...

'', but also on nectar of flowers. Caterpillars of the last

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or ass ...

s are pale green and have many spines radiating from the body. Also the chrysalis is pale green.

Gallery

File:Lexias pardalis un 051028 3402 stgd.jpg, Ventral view File:Lexias pardalis up 051028 3383 stgd.jpg, Male - dorsal view File:Nymphalidae - Lexias pardalis.jpg, Male - dorsal view File:Lexias pardalis - ventral.jpg, Male - ventral view -

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

File:Lexias pardalis - dorsal.jpg, Male - dorsal view - Sumatra,

File:Archduke Caterpillar (Lexias pardalis) (8085630188).jpg, Caterpillar,

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

References

Life History

External links

*
Butterfly Circle

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1933632 Lexias Butterflies of Asia Butterflies of Singapore Butterflies of Borneo Butterflies described in 1878 Taxa named by Frederic Moore Articles containing video clips