Delias aruna, the golden Jezebel, is a butterfly in the family Pieridae. It is found in Queensland, Irian Jaya, Maluku, Papua New Guinea and several surrounding islands.
Description Sexually dimorphic.The male upper ground colour is yellow to orange.The forewing apex is black apex and there is a narrow black band marginal hindwing band.The female is black, with an orange basal area and obscure orange apical spots. The undersides of both sexes are dark brown. The male has a yellow forewing patch and a scarlet mark near the base of each hindwing. The female has arcs of yellow spots around the margin of the undersides of all wings. Both sexes have wingspans of c. 7 cms. D aruna is very variable across its large range.
Subspecies Delias aruna aruna (northern Moluccas, Waigeu, West Irian to northern New Guinea) light yellow basal region on the hindwing above. Delias aruna irma Fruhstorfer, 1907 Fruhstorfer, H. 1907 Neue Rhopaloceren aus dem Papua-Gebiet Soc. Ent. 21 (23) : 179-180 (Papua (Milne Bay)) the darkest known race; male beneath almost entirely black, also above with broader margins than inferna. Delias aruna inferna Butler, 1871 Butler, A. G. 1871Lepidoptera Exotica, or descriptions and illustrations of exotic Lepidoptera (Cape York to Coen) - orange Jezabel in the female above no yellow transverse spot at the discocellular of the forewing, which, however, appears again beneath. very similar to irma. Delias aruna rona Rothschild, 1898Rothschild, W. 1898 On some new or rare Lepidoptera of the Old-World regions Novit. Zool. 5 (1) : 96-102(Roon Island) Delias aruna seriata Fruhstorfer, H. 1907 Fruhstorfer, 1909 Neues über Rhopaloceren Stettin ent. Ztg. 70 (2) : 209-238( Bachan, Obi, Halmahera, Kasiruta and Gebi islands). Delias aruna arovana Fruhstorfer, H. 1913 (Rossel and Sud-Est islands) Fruhstorfer, H. 1913 Neue indo-australische Rhopaloceren Ent. Rundschau 30 (16): 91-92 Delias aruna rana Swinhoe, 1916 Swinhoe, C. 1916 New Species of Butterflies and Moths from Australia, Africa, and the Indo-Malayan Region Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (8) 18 (108) (Ambon Island) Delias aruna sarera Yagishita, 1994 Yagishita, A. 1994: Delias (2). Futao 17: 3–5 (Manawi, Yapen Island) form madala Fruhstorfer, 1907 Fruhstorfer, H. 1907 Neue Rhopaloceren aus dem Papua-Gebiet Soc. Ent. 21 (23) : 179-180 (German New Guinea) Distal margin narrow, the ground-colour above orange, whilst on the under surface the red costal and discal spot are considerably larger and hence the black distal margin is reduced. form bajura (Waigeu) pale yellow basal part of the hindwing above;sharply defined and narrower white transverse spot before the cell of the forewing.
Biology They fly singly, mostly met with in July in open woods. The butter¬ flies are fond of visiting the flowers of Syzygium jambos, on which they have been found even at elevations of 1000 ft.
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External links
Australian Insects The Life History of Delias aruna inferna