Cethosia biblis, the lacewing biblis or red lacewing, is a species of heliconiine butterfly belonging to the family Nymphalidae.

Subspecies

The subspecies of Cethosia-biblis found in India are-

Distribution

This species can be found from the Indian subcontinent eastwards to South-East Asia and East Asia, the eastern limit being the Philippines, and the southern limit being Indonesia.

Description

Cethosia biblis is a medium-sized butterfly, with a wingspan reaching about 8 - 9 cm. In this species the sexes are dimorphic. In males the dorsal sides of the wings are bright orange red, framed by a black outline with white spots. The undersides range from bright red to pale brown, interlaced by black and white. This astonishing pattern helps to disguise the shape of the butterfly, while the intense colour of the dorsal sides of the wings is a warning to predators that the red lacewing has a bad taste, deriving from the poisonous host plants of the caterpillars. The dorsal sides of the wings of the females are greyish-brownish with black spots and white bands and spots on the black margins. Caterpillars have several reddish, black and white stripes, a black head and long black spikes that contain poison. In fact they mainly feed on poisonous climbing plants, mainly Passiflora species (P. cochinchinensis, P. moluccana, etc.).

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