Junonia hierta

Taxobox | name = Yellow Pansy
status =

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image_width = 240px
image_caption = Yellow Pansy "Precis hierta"- Female
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Arthropoda
classis = Insecta
ordo = Lepidoptera
familia = Nymphalidae
subfamilia = Nymphalinae
tribe = Nymphalini
genus = "Junonia"
species = "J. hierta"
binomial = "Junonia hierta"
binomial_authority =
synonyms = "Precis hierta"
range_

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The Yellow Pansy ("Junonia hierta") is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in South Asia. It is usually seen in open scrub and grassland habitats.

Description

:"See glossary for terms used"Male upperside bright yellow. Forewing: the costa with a broad triangular projection downwards at the discocellulars, the apex broadly, the terminal margin, and the dorsum with a triangular projection upwards near the tornus, jet-black ; this black margin narrows near the middle of the termen and bears on the apex two short transverse preapical white streaks crossed by the black veins, below these an obscure ocellus sometimes absent. Hind wing : the anterior half and the terminal margin black, the dorsum broadly shaded with ochraceous brown, the anterior black area with a large brilliant blue central spot. Cilia of both fore and hind wings white alternated with brown.

Underside: fore wing pale yellow; cell crossed by three laterally black-margined orange-yellow bars ; beyond the cell a short, broad, irregular jet-black oblique band from costa to base of vein 4; apex and dorsal margin broadly, termen in the middle narrowly, dusky brownish black with some obscure paler markings ; a round jet-black discal spot in interspace 2 and another smaller one in interspace 5. Hind wing greyish yellow; in the dry-season form strongly irrorated with dusky scales; a prominent transverse brown discal fascia, its margins highly sinuous ; a brownish broad shade on the middle of the termen; some obscure lunular marks on the basal area, a postdiscal line of minute dots, and subterminal and terminal zigzag slender lines pale brown. Antennae pale, head, thorax and abdomen dark brownish black : beneath dull ochraceous white.

Female similar, the colours duller. Upperside fore wing: cell with a more or less complete transverse black fascia and another at the discocellulars; blue-centred well-marked ocelli in interspaces 2 and 5 on the disc of the fore wing, and smaller ocelli in interspaces 2 and 5 on the disc of the hind wing. Fore and hind wings with a fairly well-defined pale subterminal line, the blue spot on the anterior black area on the hind wing small and ill-defined or entirely wanting; the rest as in the male. Underside as in the male, but generally with the markings heavier and more clearly defined.Bingham, C. T. 1905. Fauna of British India. Butterflies. Volume 1]

Life history

Larva : " Ground-colour dark brown or grey with a broad dorsal stripe formed of minute white and blue spots, spines black.'" (Davidson & Aitken)Pupa : Dull reddish ; head obtuse in front; thorax dorsallv convex ; abdomen with a dorsal and lateral row of small blackish points " (Moore)

Gallery

References

ee also

*Nymphalidae
*List of butterflies of India