Chocolate Pansy

Chocolate Pansy

Precis iphita iphita ( Cramer ) NYMPHALIDAE

Adult

Upperside dark olive-brown with indistinct dark brown bands. Basal area of both wings more greenish. FW with 1 or 2 ( rarely without) minute ocelli and HW with an indistinct row of 5 dark brown ocelli. Apex of FW and tornus of HW slightly produced and termen of FW concave. Underside dark brown with wavy lines and less distinct ocelli. Wingspan 55-80mm.

Also known as the chocolate soldier. Rare in the poains and basent in dry regions. More in damp patches and shady places. Common in the forests of south and central India and up to 3000 m in the Himalayas from Kashmir further eastwards. Visits flowers of Aztec Marigold.

Larva

Black when young and reddish brown when fully grown with dorsal and lateral rows of short, delicate, brown, branched spines on dirty yellow base.

Feeds on Justicia, Starthorn, Strobilanthes callosus, Auriculata, etc.

Distribution

Practically the entire Oriental region.