Evening brown butterfly (Melanitis lead) camouflage to resemble a dead leaf - 11/04/2024

Melanitis leda, the common evening brown, is a butterfly found flying at dusk. The flight of this species is erratic. They are found in Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia extending to parts of Australia. The wet-season form of this butterfly's forewing is apex subacute; the termen is slightly angulated just below the apex or straight. The upperside of the butterfly is brown and the forewing with two large subapical black spots, each with a smaller spot outwardly of pure white inwardly bordered by a ferruginous interrupted lunule; costal margin narrowly pale. In the dry season morph the ocelli are greatly reduced or may be entirely absent, and the ground colour varies from grey to light brown, mottled with tiny dark dots. The dry-season form of the common evening brown butterfly (Melanitis lead) uses camouflage to resemble a dead leaf and suck the juice from the remains part of fallen fruit at Tehatta, West Bengal; India on 04/11/2024.