De rerum: an acknowlegement and explanation.
INDEX: Linnaean

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Belenois aurota



The Brown-veined White.
The broad dark outlining of the veins on the underside are characteristic of the sp.: black in the male and brown in the female.
At top is a male at Bisley NR feeding on a Vernonia, a popular nectaring flower. The underside of this male butterfly has the yellow restricted to a few streaks, and on both surfaces the black of the apex  encloses some well demarcated white patches. In this specimen the disco-cellular marking is developed into a bar that merges with the costa.
Below is a female settling for the night in the KZN-NBG. As c.f. the male, the veins are outlined in brown and the yellow is more extensive. (Not shown, here the upperside black margin would be unrelieved by any white.)
Compare this with B. creona (see also Belenois the genus.)


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