Delias nysa

Delias nysa (Fabricius, 1775)
Nysa Jezabel
PIERINAE, PIERIDAE

Don Herbison-Evans ( donherbisonevans@yahoo.com )
&
Stella Crossley

(updated 11 July 2007)

Delias nysa
(Photo: courtesy of Dave Britton)

The Caterpillars of this species are olive-green with two rows of white spots bearing long white hairs. They feed on the Mistletoes :

Short-jointed Mistletoe ( Korthalsella breviarticulata, VISCACEAE ), and

Ruddy Mistletoe ( Korthalsella rubra, VISCACEAE ).

The Caterpillars at first are gregarious, but later instars are solitary. The Caterpillars grow to a length of about 3.5 cms.

Male
(Specimen: courtesy of the The Australian Museum)

The adults have a wingspan of about 5 cms. The upper surface of each wing of the male butterfly is white with broad black veins, especially toward the apex of each fore wing.

Male underside
(Specimen: courtesy of the The Australian Museum)

The underside of each wing of a male is grey. The underside of the fore wing also has white spots, a white inner margin, and a yellow patch at the base.

Female
(Specimen: courtesy of the The Australian Museum)

The female has black upper surfaces with a broad white area at the base of each wing. The black areas contain white spots.

Female underside
(Specimen: courtesy of the The Australian Museum)

The underside of the female is brownish grey. Each fore wing has an arc of white spots, a white patch at the inner margin, and a yellow patch by the base. Each hind wing underneath has an arc of small orange spots.

The eggs are laid in groups of about 20 on leaves of a foodplant.

The species is found in New Caledonia, Vanuatu, and all down the east coast of Australia, from Queensland to Victoria, and a small pocket of the subspecies nivira is found on Cape York.