Lexias pardalis dirteana

Lexias pardalis dirteana (Corbet, 1941)


♂, Narathiwat, Thailand.		♀, Narathiwat, Thailand.

♂, Yala, Thailand.		♀, Yala, Thailand.

♂, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand.		♀, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand.

♂, Ranong, Thailand.		♂, Ranong, Thailand.

ON : Euthalia dirtea dirteana Corbet, 1941
OD : Entomologist 74(6): 135.
TL : 'Malay Peninsula; Province Wellesley, Penang [Seberang Perai, Penang State, W.Malaysia]'

Distribution : P.Thailand (south of Ranong), Langkawi, W.Malaysia.

	● ssp.jadeitina
	● ssp.eleanor
	● ssp.dirteana

Records taken from Literature

[ THAILAND ]
Euthalia pardalis dirteana: Pinratana,1979 : 85, figs.N148b♂,♀. (Ranong; Trang)
Euthalia pardalis dirteana: Pinratana & Eliot,1996 : 84, pl.59, figs.159b♂,♀. (Ranong; Trang; Pattani; Yala)
Lexias pardalis dirteana: Ek-Amnuay,[2007] : 458, pl.204, figs.N168b♀,♀(Un). (Yala)
Lexias pardalis dirteana: Les Day,2011–2022 : Samui Butterflies, figs.♂,♂(Un),♀,♀(Un). (Koh Samui; Koh Phangan) (accessed: 2022.03.24)
Lexias pardalis dirteana: Ek-Amnuay,2012 : 470, pl.209, figs.N334b♀,♀(Un). (Yala; Nakhon Si Thammarat)
Lexias pardalis dirteana: Kimura et al.,2016 : 115, figs.♂,♂(Un)♀,♀(Un). (Khlong Naka; Kao Luang; Ka Chong; Sai Kao WF; Than To WF.)
Lexias pardalis dirteana: Küppers & Janikorn,2020 : 71–72, figs.Abb.N-450–455. (Phang Nga)
Lexias pardalis jadeitina: Yokochi,2026 : 14–15, map.2. (Peninsular Thailand)

Specimens Examined

[ THAILAND ]
Ranong : 6♂.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Nakhon Si Thammarat : 1♂ 2♀.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Trang : 1♂.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Satun : 1♂.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Yala : 3♂ 4♀.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Narathiwat : 3♂ 1♀.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Notes
The butterfly is common in forests at low to moderate elevations (10–550 m a.s.l.) and frequently comes to rotten fruits that have fallen to the ground.
Yokochi (2026) synonymised ssp.dirteana with Lexias pardalis jadeitina from "Tenasserim" [Tanintharyi Region, Myanmar]. However, the population occurring from peninsular Thailand to W. Malaysia has a darker ground colour on the uppersides and undersides of both wings and consistently smaller yellow spots on the uppersides of both wings than ssp.jadeitina. Therefore, I retain ssp.dirteana as a distinct subspecies, as previously treated.

Usually, Lexias pardalis and Lexias dirtea can be distinguished by the colouration of the antennal tips. L. dirtea has entirely black antennal tips, whereas in L. pardalis, yellow to orange colouration extends from the tip to approximately the fifth segment. However, in areas where the two species occur sympatrically, individuals with very dark, orangish-black antennal tips are frequently observed. The orangish colouration may be difficult to discern unless the specimen is viewed from a different angle. Consequently, these individuals cannot be reliably distinguished on the basis of antennal colouration alone. Further molecular analysis is required to determine whether these individuals represent intraspecific variation or interspecific hybridisation.

As noted by Kimura et al. (2016), the wing patterns of L. dirtea and L. pardalis are considered to exhibit parallel geographic variation across their respective ranges.

Literature

Distant, W.L, 1883. Rhopalocera Malayana: a Description of the Butterflies of the Malay Peninsula.
Author, care of West, Newman & Co., London, pp. 112–114.

Corbet, A.S, 1941. Further revisional Notes on Malayan Rhopalocera.
Entomologist, 74(6): 133–135.

Tsukada, E, 1991. In: Tsukada, E. (Ed.), Butterflies of the South East Asian Islands 5. Nymphalidae (II).
Azumino Butterflie's Research Institute, Nagano, 576 pp., (238 pls.). (in Japanese)

Eliot, J.N. & Kirton, L.G, 2000. Revisional notes and nomenclatural changes of some Peninsular Malaysian butterflies.
Malayan Nature Journal, 54(2): 131–145.

Abe, A. & Kumagai, Y, 2010. A study of chromosomes in four species of Lexias (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae).
Tyô to Ga, 61(1): 79–86. (in Japanese)

Yokochi, T, 2026. Taxonomic reassessment of Lexias dirtea (Fabricius, 1793) and Lexias pardalis (Moore, 1878) (Nymphalidae: Adoliadini) based on type material and nomenclatural history.
AIRS Journal of Entomology, 1(1): 1–22.


♂, Yala, Thailand.	♀, Yala, Thailand.

♂, Yala, Thailand.	♀, Yala, Thailand.

2007.03.03 - 2026.09.30.