Byblia ilithyia

Spotted Joker
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Byblia
Species:	B. ilithyia
Binomial name
Byblia ilithyia (Drury, 1773)
Synonyms
Papilio ilithyia Drury, 1773 Papilio polinice Stoll, 1782 Papilio gotzius Herbst, 1798 Hypanis cora Feisthamel, 1850 Byblia ilithyia var. badiata Grünberg, 1910 Byblia ilithyia f. aestivalis Ungemach, 1932

The Joker or Spotted Joker^[1] (Byblia ilithyia) is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in parts of Africa and Asia.

Description

Wet-season form

Mating butterflies at Singanallur Lake, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

Wet-season form in Manjira Wildlife Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh, India

The male has the upperwings of a deep rich orange. The forewing has the costa broadly black until nearly the apex. The cell has three narrow short black bands, the inner and outer not reaching the median vein. An irregular black spot from dorsum to vein 4, continues very narrowly along that vein to meet an oblique irregular band from just beyond the middle of the costa. A postdiscal broad transverse black band from dorsum to vein 4, with the portions of the veins beyond it defined in black. The apex of the wing beyond the broad black edging to the costal border has its upper margin and the terminal portions of the veins defined in black; finally a narrow terminal band. The hind-wing has an elongate black sub-costal patch near base, continued posteriorly across the cell by an inner and an outer series of small transverse spots; a complete broad black postdiscal band with the portions of the veins beyond it lined with black, and a narrow black terminal band as on the forewing. Cilia of fore and hind wings white, alternated with brown.

Wet-season form in Manjira Wildlife Sanctuary, Andhra Pradesh, India

Underside paler duller orange. Fore wing: black markings as on the upperside, but the cell and upper discal markings obscurely margined on the inner side by white; an oblique black line from costa to apex of post-discal transverse band, followed by an oblique pre-apical series of diffuse white spots, the terminal black band as on the upperside but traversed by a broken white line. Hind wing: a sub-basal and a discal broad, transverse white band, both bordered inwardly by a series of black spots, and outwardly by a broad black line; a somewhat narrower postdiscal transverse black band traversed by a series of paired white spots, followed by a row of cone-shaped markings of the ground-colour, the apices of the cones turned inwards and broadly white ; finally, a black terminal band traversed by a series of white lunules. Antennae black; head, thorax and abdomen dark dusky fulvous red; beneath, palpi white, head, thorax and abdomen dark ochraceous, variegated with some black and white lines and spots.

Female similar, with similar markings, but on the upperside the ground-colour is paler, the black markings narrower. Fore wing: the postdiscal black band nearly complete, interrupted only in interspaces 1 and 4; the terminal black band traversed by a broken white line. Hind wing: no subcostal black patch, instead three series of transverse spots; a postdiscal transverse broad black band bordered inwardly by a series of slender black loops, between these and the postdiscal band a series of spots of the ground-colour; the terminal black band traversed as on the fore wing by a whitish broken line. Underside similar to that in the male, but the ground-colour paler. On the fore wing the black markings comparatively narrower, less well-defined; on the hind wing the white on the bands and spots replaced by pale yellow.^[2]

Dry-season form

Males and females are similar to the wet-season form but the black markings are not so sharply defined. Underside: ground-colour darker, on the hind wing a dark ochraceous; the transverse subbasal and discal bands in both sexes white.

Wing expanse: 50–56 mm.

The haploid chromosome number is 17.^[3]

Distribution

Parts of Africa, central and southern India, and Sri Lanka.^[2]

Host plants

Caterpillar of joker butterfly

The larvae feed on Tragia dubanensis, Tragia glabrata, Dalechampia capensis, and Tragia cannabina.^[1]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Byblia ilithyia.