Order: Lepidoptera. Section: Diurna. Family: Nymphalidæ, Swains.
Genus. Nymphalis, Latr. God. Papilio (Nymphalis), Fabr.
Nymphalis Hippona. Alis suprà nigris, anticis fulvo flavoque variis: posticis caudatis basi fulvo apice nigro strigâ marginali punctorum alborum. (Expans. Alar. 4 unc.)
Syn. Papilio (Nymph.) Hippona, Fabr. Sp. Ins. 2. p. 54. No. 258. Ent. Syst. III. 1. p. 180. No. 559. Donovan Ins. India, pl. 35. fig. * Encycl. Méth. ix. p. 362.
Papilio (Nymph. Phal.), Cramer, pl. 90. fig. C. D. Stoll Suppl. Cramer, pl. 2. fig. 1. & 1. A. B. C. Drury, App. vol. 3.
Habitat: Brazil (Drury). Guiana, Antilles (Enc. Méth.).
Upper Side. Antennæ black at the base, but yellow at the extremities. Thorax and abdomen greenish brown. Anterior wings angulated, and black, but orange-brown at the base; posterior edges verged with black. An irregular indented yellow bar crosses them from the middle of the anterior edges to the middle of the external ones; and near the tips are placed two white spots, one large, of an oval shape, and a small round one. Posterior wings with two tails, chiefly of a yellow-brown colour, but having a black circular patch placed along the external edges, and reaching nearly from the abdominal to the upper corners, whereon are placed three white crescents and a small round spot.
Under Side. Palpi yellowish. Tongue dark brown. Legs yellowish. Breast dark brown. Abdomen yellowish. Wings ornamented with such a variety of soft colours, as renders it impossible to describe them minutely.
The transformations of this curious species have been figured by Stoll in his supplementary volume to Cramer. The caterpillar is of a dark green, with a black dorsal line and lateral spots of the same colour. The head is black, with two yellow spots, and furnished with two short obtuse spines. It lives upon a plant called "poirvier," feeding only by night, remaining during the day concealed in a kind of case, which it forms by rolling up a leaf. The chrysalis is short, and thick, without angular prominences, of a grey colour, with black dots. It attaches itself by the tail to the stem of the plant upon which it feeds.
Fabricius erroneously gives India as the habitat of this species, whence Donovan has introduced it into his work upon the insects of that country.