Yellow Archduke

Lexias canescens has a wingspan of about 10 cm (3.9 in). These butterflies have dark brown and whitish or yellow-spotted upper surface of the wings, which is an efficient camouflage against predators. Caterpillars are pale green with long spinous bristles. The male of Lexias canescens pardalina is rather similar to a small female of Lexias pardalis but the underside of its hindwings shows a yellow-washed color. Seitz-It is a small, insignificant species, differing from Lexias dirtea in having both sexes almost alike, but still resembling it in the red-brown palpi and the close resemblance of both sexes to the pattern of the female of E. dirtea F. The arrangement of the yellow spotting which varies on the different islands in which it occurs canascens canescens Btlr. (127 a) has the macular rows on the hindwings not always red-brown but usually pale clay-yellow. In the female the spots are larger, those in the median area of the forewing changing to white; moreover, the submarginal macular row of both wings is in the middle and at the anal angle also whitish.

This species is present in Southeast Asia (Borneo, Peninsular Malaya, Singapore, Sumatra, Bangka Island, Sulu Islands, Belitung). These butterflies inhabit tropical forests among undergrowth and on shaded trails.