Mycalesis patnia, the glad-eye bushbrown,[2][3] is a satyrid butterfly found in southern India and Sri Lanka.[2][3]

Glad-eye bushbrown
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Nymphalidae
Genus: Mycalesis
Species:
M. patnia
Binomial name
Mycalesis patnia
(Moore, 1857)[1]
Synonyms

Mycalesis junonia Butler, 1868

Description

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In Nawalakanda, Rathnapura, Sri Lanka

Upperside: The male has a dark umber-brown ground colour slightly suffused with ochraceous. Forewings and hindwings with bright ochraceous-yellow, slender sub-terminal and terminal lines; cilia pale brown. Forewing with a large median and a much smaller subapical white-centred black ocellus, each with an orange-yellow iris, the upper portion of the iris round the median ocellus very broad, the lower incomplete and a more or less triangular orange-yellow discal patch. Hindwing uniform, with two very small fulvous-ringed black ocelli.[4]

Underside of male deep ochraceous yellow, subterminal and terminal line as on the upperside; forewing and hindwing crossed near base by a darker ochraceous-yellow line, followed by a silvery discal band, beyond which there are two ocelli as on the upperside, but each encircled also by an outer silvery ring; and on the hindwing a curved series of seven similar ocelli having a silvery band bordering them on both sides, the third and fourth ocelli from tornus together and the apical ocellus by itself placed on a brighter ochraceous patch encircled with black. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen brown, somewhat ochraceous beneath. Sex-mark is present in one morph.[4]

The female is similar to the male but more strongly suffused with ochraceous on the upperside; the orange-yellow patch on the forewing larger, spreading to the base of the wing and no ocelli on the hindwing. Underside as in the male, but of a brighter ochraceous yellow; basal area of both forewing and hindwing crossed by two darker yellow bands, and the discoidal cell of the forewing with an interior loop of the same colour.[4][5]

The southern Indian race M. p. junonia[6] is identical to the nominate race from Sri Lanka but on the upperside is a duller brown; the median ocellus on the forewing encircled with pure white; no discal patch, or merely faint traces of one. Underside: markings similar to those in M. p. patnia, but altogether of a duller and browner shade, without any general ochraceous tint, a large bright ochraceous spot posteriorly on the hindwing in the male. The median ocellus on the forewing broadly encircled with white. Male sex-marks are seen in one morph.[4]

It has a wingspan of 42–54 mm.

References

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  1. ^ Moore, Frederic; Horsfield, Thomas (1857). A catalogue of the lepidopterous insects in the museum of the Hon. East-India company. London: W.H. Allen and Co. p. 232. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  2. ^ a b R.K., Varshney; Smetacek, Peter (2015). A Synoptic Catalogue of the Butterflies of India. New Delhi: Butterfly Research Centre, Bhimtal & Indinov Publishing, New Delhi. p. 175. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.3966.2164. ISBN 978-81-929826-4-9.
  3. ^ a b Savela, Markku. "Mycalesis Hübner, 1818 - Bushbrowns". Lepidoptera - Butterflies and Moths. Retrieved 2018-03-18.
  4. ^ a b c d   One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: Bingham, Charles Thomas (1905). Fauna of British India. Butterflies Vol. 1. pp. 66–67.
  5. ^ Moore, Frederic (1890). Lepidoptera Indica. Vol. I. London: Lovell Reeve and Co. pp. 215–217.
  6. ^ Butler, Arthur Gardiner (1868). Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera of the Family Satyridæ in the Collection of the British Museum. British Museum (Natural History). Dept. of Zoology. p. 146.