The male adult butterflies of this species are lilac on top, whereas the females are brown. Both have a little tail at the tornus of each hind wing. The males have one or two black spots beside each tail. The females have a whole arc of black spots along the margin of each hind wing.

male and female undersides
(Photo: courtesy of Yusuke Takanami & Yasuo Seki)

Underneath, both sexes are pale grey, with multiple arcs of white dashes, and a black spot by the tail surrounded in orange. The butterflies have a wing span of about 2 cms.

The species occurs as several races from India to Oceania, including the Philippines, and also Cape York in Australia.

Further reading :

Michael F. Braby, Butterflies of Australia, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne 2000, vol. 2, pp. 800-801.

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