Blue Pansy

Name of a medium-sized species of butterfly, with the binomial names Junonia orithya and Precis orithya, among many others. It has a wide range with many subspecies and in Australia, the Blue Pansy is known as the Blue Argus, whilst in southern Africa, it is referred to as the Eyed Pansy. Above, the forewings of the male are blackish-brown, with a whitish sub-apical band, some orange and blue bars, and two orange eye-spots with a black centre. The hindwings are bright blue with a white-centered orange eye-spot in space two and a much smaller dark spot in space five. The female, is similarly marked, but with a much duller greyish-blue hue, yet the eye-spots in spaces two and five on the hindwing are much larger than in the male, and those in space five also have clear orange colouring in them. Underneath, both sexes are the same, i.e. greyish-brown, with cryptic orange-brown markings, whilst the eye-spots are placed similarly as on the upperside. In Thai, this butterfly is known as phi seua paensy fah (ผีเสื้อแพนซีฟ้า). See also WILDLIFE PICTURES. 回