Image: Peacock pansy (Junonia almana almana) dry season form Nepalgunj
Description: Peacock pansy (Junonia almana almana) dry season form, Nepalgunj, Nepal. This butterfly exhibits seasonal polyphenism. Throughout the year the peacock butterfly basks with its wings open – see a wet season FP from Jee. The bright orange colour and the large eyespots keep vertebrate predators away. The big change comes when it rests with its wings closed. In the wet season, when everything is green, it has bright eyespots on the underside too. But a butterfly born in the dry season need a different camoflage. There’s less food around and it must rest more. The forewings of the dry season form are fulcate (see nom) and the hindwing has a ‘tail’. There are no eyespots. It becomes an imitation of a dry leaf when it roosts upside down or enters aestivation.
Title: Peacock pansy (Junonia almana almana) dry season form Nepalgunj
Credit: Own work, from Sharp Photography, sharpphotography.co.uk
Author: Charles J. Sharp
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Attribution Required?: Yes
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