The Life of Animals | Blue Mormon | Males have the upper wings rich velvety black. The fore wing has a postdiscal band composed of internervular broad blue streaks gradually shortened and obsolescent anteriorly, not extended beyond interspace 6.
The hindwing has the terminal three-fourths beyond a line crossing the apical third of the cell pale blue, or greyish blue, with superposed postdiscal, subterminal and terminal series of black spots—the postdiscal spots elongate, inwardly conical; the subterminal oval, placed in the interspaces, the terminal irregular, placed along the apices of the veins and anteriorly coalescing more or less with the subterminal spots.
Hind wing with five irregular small patches of red at base, the outer three-fourths of the wing grey touched with ochraceous, but generally narrower than the blue on the upperside; the inner margin of the grey area crosses the wing beyond the cell; the post-discal and subterminal black spots as on the upperside. In some specimens this grey area is greatly restricted, its inner margin crossing the wing well beyond the apex of the cell; the subterminal spots merged completely with the terminal spots and form a comparatively broad terminal black band. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen blackish brown. Female very similar but the inter-nervular streaks on the fore wing paler, extended into the cell both on the upper and undersides. Hind wing: the pale blue area on the upperside and the corresponding grey area on the underside paler. In some specimens there is a diffuse short crimson streak at the base of the cell of the fore wing on the upperside.
Endemic to India and Sri Lanka. In India it is restricted to the Western Ghats, Southern India and the East coast. Wynter-Blyth recorded it in Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Sikkim.Frequents forest paths and streams. It frequents flowers especially of Mussaenda frondosa, Ixora coccinea, Jasminum spp. and Asystasia gangetica. The sheen enhances its resemblance to fresh bird dropping. While small in size, this camouflage permits the caterpillar to rest on the centre of a leaf and nibble around the edges. Later its growing size forces it to keep to twigs and the undersides of leaves except when it is feeding on leaves. The caterpillar can be distinguished from the Common Mormon, which it resembles, by its larger size, greenish head and a blue streak in the eye-spot in segments 4 to 5. It has a deep red osmeterium
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