132. Phalanta alcippe alcippoides (The Small Leopard)

Number: 132

Family: Nymphaliidae
Sub-Family: Heliconiinae

Species: Phalanta alcippe alcippoides (Moore, 1900)

Common name(s): The Small Leopard

Photography location: Cuc Phuong N.P. (Ninh Binh Prov.)

The genus Phalanta ("Leopards") comprising 6 species, of which 2 are present in the Oriental region - alcippe and phalantha. Both are also present in Vietnam.

Phalanta alcippe is a wide-ranging Indo-Malayan species known from India to Borneo. This is the less common, and smaller, of the two Phalanta species. It is found in forest clearings and forest edges.

Specimen perched on my motorbike during a trip at Cuc Phuong N.P.
Butterflies are often attracted by my sweaty clothes – and here, in Vietnam, you sweat A LOT – but also by my motorbike – an unresolved mystery!

74. Phalanta phalantha phalantha (The Common Leopard)

Number: 74

Family: Nymphaliidae
Sub-Family: Heliconiinae

Species:  Phalanta phalantha phalantha Drury, 1773

Common name(s): The Common Leopard

Photography location : Hanoi

The genus Phalanta ("Leopards") comprising 6 species, of which 2 are present in the Oriental region - alcippe and phalantha. Both are also present in Vietnam.

Phalanta phalantha is the commonest and most widespread member of the genus. It is recorded in the whole of Subsaharan Africa, eastward from India to China and Japan, and south to the Philippines, most of the south-east Asian islands, and northern Australia.

Phalanta phalantha, Hanoi City
This is primarily a butterfly of scrub/woodland habitats, but its migratory nature also takes it to city parks, gardens and many other habitats