Cethosia biblis, common name Red Lacewing

Photo from Boston, Kritipur. Nepal

Red Lacewing
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Lepidoptera
Family:	Nymphalidae
Genus:	Cethosia
Species:	C. biblis
Binomial name
Cethosia biblis (Drury, 1773)

• Cethosia biblis, common name Red Lacewing, is a species of heliconiine butterfly belonging to the Nymphalidae family.
• Cethosia biblis is medium-sized butterfly, with a wingspan reaching about 8–9 centimetres (3.1–3.5 in).
• In this species the sexes are dimorphic. 
• In males the dorsal sides of the wings are bright orange-red, framed by a black outline with white spots.
•  The undersides range from bright red to pale brown, interlaced by black and white. 
• This astonishing pattern helps to disguise the shape of the butterfly, while the intense colour of the dorsal sides of the wings is a warning to predators that the Red Lacewing has a bad taste, deriving from the poisonous host plants of the caterpillars.
•  The dorsal sides of the wings of the females are grayish-brownish with black spots and white bands and spots on the black margins.
• Caterpillars have several reddish, black and white stripes, a black head and long black spikes that contain poison. In fact they mainly feed on poisonous climbing plants, mainly Passiflora species (Passiflora cochinchinensis, Passiflora moluccana, etc.).
• This species can be found from India and Nepal, east to southern China and the Philippines, and south to Indonesia.