Butterflies of
Thailand, Malaysia &
Borneo
White Nawab
Polyura delphis
DOUBLEDAY, 1843
Family - NYMPHALIDAE
subfamily -
CHARAXINAE
Tribe - CHARAXINI
introduction
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habitats |
lifecycle |
adult behaviour
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Polyura delphis,
Taman Negara,
West Malaysia |
Introduction
There are 24 species in the genus Polyura,
most of which are found in the Oriental region, although one
species posidonius is restricted to
Tibet and west China; 6 or 7 are endemic to various islands,
e.g. andrewsi from Christmas Island
and caphontis from Fiji; and one,
pyrrhus reaches Queensland in
Australia.
7
species occur in Malaysia -
athamas,
delphis, eudamippus,
hebe, jalysus,
moori and
schreiber.
The butterflies
are characterised by their distinctive wing shape with twin
tails on the hindwings, a feature strongly reminiscent of the
African Charaxes. Most have dark
brown uppersides with bands of dazzling creamy white which vary
in size and shape from one species to another. These bands are
usually repeated on the underside in a beautiful shade of pale
green, but in the case of delphis the underside is white, and
marked with orange, yellow and grey spots and lunules, hence its
alternative name the Jewelled Nawab.
Polyura
delphis
is one of the scarcer species, and is found in Assam, Sikkim,
Myanmar, Thailand, peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, Sabah, Brunei,
Kalimantan, Palawan and Java.
Habitats
This species is found in primary rainforest at altitudes between
about 100-600 metres.
Lifecycle
I have no data regarding delphis,
but the lifecycle is likely to be similar to that of other
Polyura species.
The eggs will be spherical, probably yellow in colour, and laid
singly on the
underside of leaves of the foodplants.
The caterpillar
when fully grown will be green, and probably marked with one or
more pale dorsal bands. As with other
Polyura species it will have a large head with
a flat face, adorned with a crown of 4 impressive long horns.
The foodplants are likely to be primarily members of the Fabaceae.
The chrysalis will be green, probably streaked or marbled with white,
and will have a plump, rounded and compressed abdomen. It will
be attached by the cremaster to a twig or stem on or near the
foodplant.
Adult behaviour
Males visit
damp sand along river beaches, but do not normally aggregate
with other species. The individual depicted above was one of a
pair of delphis males which were
attracted to urine-tainted sand on a tributary of the Sungai
Tembeling in Taman Negara national park.
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