Brown Gorgon, Meandrusa lachinus (Fruhstorfer, 1902) male.

Appearance:
Meandrusa sciron (Leech, 1890) female.
Synonyms:
Papilio sciron (Leech, 1890) female
Papilio lachinus (Fruhstorfer, 1902) male

Male:
Upperside opaque brown, the basal area and the terminal third of both forewings and hindwings of a darker shade than the broad medial area, due to the dark markings of the underside that show through by transparency;
forewings and hindwings with a subterminal series of largish yellow lunules that curve upwards posteriorly on the hindwing and end in a diffuse transverse bluish-white mark across interspace 1.
Underside, forewing: basal third and a large spot on the discocellulars, that is widened anteriorly,
rich dark cinnamon-brown; medial third lilacine, pale towards the dorsum, widened anteriorly and extended into the apex of the cell, and on the costa from the discocellulars to near the apex of the wing; interspaces 2, 3 and 4 with paler lilacine (lilac-coloured) lunules; terminal third of the wing dull brown, with a postdiscal and a subterminal transverse series of somewhat obscure olivaceous-yellow lunules.
Hindwing: basal third rich dark cinnamon brown in continuation of that colour on the forewing; remainder of the wing lilacine, with a large posterior discal patch of cinnamon brown, margined inwardly by a diffuse broad irregular white band, and outwardly by a series of white lunules; a subterminal somewhat obscure row of olivaceous-yellow markings; the tail and terminal margin dark cinnamon brown. Antennae dark brown, head, thorax and abdomen brown with an olivaceous tinge; beneath: similar, the abdomen more brightly olivaceous yellow.

Female:
Upperside: ground colour similar to that in the male; marking differ as follows: a very broad discal transverse lilacine white band across both forewings and hindwings that extends from vein 5 and from within the apex of cell of forewing to the dorsal margin of the hindwing.
Forewing: a yellowish-white costal spot in upper third of cell, a larger spot beyond that turns to yellow at base of interspace 6, an anterior postdiscal transverse series of yellow more or less lunular spots, and a subterminal similar series of spots.
Hindwing: the lilacine white colour of the discal band spreads to the base of the wing, but is thickly irrorated (sprinkled) with brownish scales, as is also the outer margin posteriorly of the same band; the rest of the wing dark brown, with the margins of the tornus and of the tail broadly bright cinnamon brown; lastly, superposed on the brown area is a sub-terminal series of large, yellow, well-defined more or less lunular spots. Underside similar to that of the male, the ground colour and markings on the outer two-thirds of both forewing and hindwing paler. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen as in the male.
Karl Jordan in Seitz (page 91) provides a description differentiating gyas from nearby taxa and discussing some forms.

Subspecies:
Meandrusa sciron sciron (Leech, 1890) female.
Ssp.: M. abaensis (Sugiyama, 1994). China: Sichuan.
Ssp.: aribbas (Fruhstorfer, 1909) western China, Myanmar.
Ssp.: dalata (Monastyrskii & Devyatkin, 2003). Vietnam.
Meandrusa lachinus (Fruhstorfer, 1902). India:Senchal, Darjeeling.
Ssp.: nagamasai (Okano, 1986). Thailand.

Distribution: Brown Gorgon, Meandrusa sciron, is a species of swallowtail butterfly found in parts of South Asia and Southeast Asia. It belongs to the hooked swallowtails genus, Meandrusa, of the family Papilionidae. The brown gorgon is found in India from Sikkim to Assam and north Burma and is not considered to be threatened. Though not uncommon, it is protected under Indian law under the name gyas.

Habitat: flies in forests from 1,500 to 2,700 m.
It generally sticks to the ridges rather than the valleys.

Behaviour:

Flight time: It is known to have two generations,
the first in May and June and the second from August to October

Egg. Larva and pupa: Probably unpleasant due to its host plant being Aristolochia species.

Host plants: Larvae on Lauraceae species.

Distribution: Brown Gorgon, Meandrusa sciron, is a species of swallowtail butterfly found in parts of South Asia and Southeast Asia. It belongs to the hooked swallowtails genus, Meandrusa, of the family Papilionidae. The brown gorgon is found in India from Sikkim to Assam and north Burma and is not considered to be threatened. Though not uncommon, it is protected under Indian law under the name gyas.

Named in English: Brown Gorgon.

Similar species:

Reference:

Lepidoptera and some other life forms

Wikipedia:

Butterfflies of India

GBIF: Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
World distribution:
Brown Gorgon, Meandrusa sciron (Leech, 1890) male.

Wikipedia: Bhutan's Glorie, Bhutanitis lidderdalii (Atkinson, 1873).

Hiroaki Takenouchi Facebook:

_____________________

Yellow Gorgon, Meandrusa payeni ssp. evan (Doubleday, 1845) male.

Family: is a species of swallowtail found in parts of South Asia and Southeast Asia. It belongs to the hooked swallowtails, genus Meandrusa, of the family Papilionidae. It is also called the outlet sword or the sickle.

Description: Upperside bright ochraceous, with a darker shade towards the base of the wings.
Forewing: two or three spots obliquely across the cell, a larger spot at its upper apex, the costal margin from base (the collar broadened towards the apex), and the terminal margin very broadly, dark brown; on the inner side of this broad brown terminal edging there is a transverse incomplete discal series of dark brown spots, followed by an irregular transverse series of brown lunules, both these merge anteriorly and posteriorly into the brown on the termen; lastly superposed on the brown terminal edging is a more or less complete, transverse, subterminal series of lunules of the ochraceous ground colour, reduced in some specimens to only two or three lunules above the tornus.

Hindwing: terminal half or more dark brown, with an inner postdiscal and an outer subterminal series of more or less lunular spots of the ochraceous ground colour; the postdiscal series consists of only four spots in interspaces 1 to 4, the subterminal series is complete to interspace 7, the spots larger, that in inter-apace 3 elongate, outwardly conical; tail tipped with ochraceous. underside: ground colour a deeper richer ochraceous.
Forewing: cell and basal area with a number of irregular cinnamon-brown spots, followed on the terminal half by three transverse series of more or less irregular and incomplete lunular cinnamon-brown markings and a narrow brown terminal edging.

Hindwing: basal area with a transverse series of three spots, a large spot at apex of cell, the bases of interspaces 1, 2 and 3, followed by three more or less complete but irregular series of lunular markings, cinnamon brown; superposed on the inner discal row of brown lunules is a transverse series of snow-white crescents, conspicuous only in interspaces 1 and 2, but barely indicated anteriorly.
Antenna dark ochraceous brown; head, thorax and abdomen ochraceous, the thorax posteriorly and basal half of the abdomen olivaceous; beneath: head, thorax and abdomen brighter ochraceous.

Female: Ground colour paler, base and cell of forewing on upperside shaded with bright very pale cinnamon; markings similar both on the upper and under sides, but less clearly defined; the costal margin of forewing on the upperside ochraceous almost to apex, not brown; the subterminal series of ochraceous lunules on the upperside of the hindwing very large, separated from one another only by the brown along the veins. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen similar, but paler.

Karl Jordan in Seitz (page 91, 92) provides a description differentiating payeni from nearby taxa and discussing some forms.

Larva food plants / other food objects:
Litsea cubeba, the aromatic litsea or may chang, is an evergreen tree or shrub 5–12 meters high in the family Lauraceae. It is native to Southern Chinese regions including Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Fujian as well as Taiwan and other Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Cambodia. It is called "mountain pepper".

Species: Meandrusa payeni ssp. payeni (Boisduval, 1836). Java.
Subspecies.: brunei (Fruhstorfer, 1894) northern Borneo.
Ssp.: ciminius (Fruhstorfer, 1909). Burma to Peninsular Malaya, Sumatra.
Ssp.: evan (Doubleday, 1845). Bhutan, India: Sikkim, Assam.
Ssp.: hegylus (Jordan, 1909). China: Hainan.
Ssp.: langsonensis (Fruhstorfer, 1901), northern Vietnam.

Distribution: The butterfly is found in India from Sikkim to Assam, north Burma and Peninsular Malaysia.

Status: The yellow gorgon is not threatened, but is not common across most of its range. However it is considered to be vulnerable and in need of protection in Peninsular Malaysia.

___________________________________

Reference:

Lepidoptera and some other life forms

Wikipedia:

Butterfflies of India

GBIF: Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
World distribution:
Yellow Gorgon, Meandrusa payeni ssp. evan (Doubleday, 1845) male.

Indien; Erling Krabbe. 2016.

______________________________________

Butterflies from Oriental

Home back to frontpage