Subspecies in India
(1) Melanitis zitenius zitenius (Herbst, 1796) – Himalayan Great Evening Brown
(2) Melanitis zitenius gokala Moore, [1858] – Sahyadri Great Evening Brown
(3) Melanitis zitenius kalinga Moore, 1883 – Kalinga Great Evening Brown
(4) Melanitis zitenius andamanica Evans, 1923 – Andaman Great Evening Brown
Conservation and Special status
This species is legally protected in India under Schedule II of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Photo Gallery and Species Biology
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
This species is legally protected in India under Schedule II of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.| State | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | No date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT | |||||||||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Arunachal Pradesh | 2 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Assam | |||||||||||||
| Bihar | |||||||||||||
| Chandigarh | |||||||||||||
| Chhattisgarh | |||||||||||||
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT | |||||||||||||
| Daman & Diu UT | |||||||||||||
| Delhi | |||||||||||||
| Goa | |||||||||||||
| Gujarat | |||||||||||||
| Haryana | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Himachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Jammu and Kashmir UT | |||||||||||||
| Jharkhand | |||||||||||||
| Karnataka | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Kerala | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 12 | ||||||
| Ladakh UT | |||||||||||||
| Lakshadweep | |||||||||||||
| Madhya Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Maharashtra | |||||||||||||
| Manipur | |||||||||||||
| Meghalaya | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3 | |||||||||
| Mizoram | |||||||||||||
| Nagaland | |||||||||||||
| Odisha | |||||||||||||
| Puducherry UT | |||||||||||||
| Punjab | |||||||||||||
| Rajasthan | |||||||||||||
| Sikkim | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Tamil Nadu | |||||||||||||
| Tripura | |||||||||||||
| Uttar Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Uttarakhand | |||||||||||||
| West Bengal | 7 | ||||||||||||
| Total | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 16 | 13 | 13 |
Bambusa spp., Bambusa bambos, Ochlandra spp., Ochlandra scriptoria (Poaceae).
Key Reference: Nitin, R., V. C. Balakrishnan, P. V. Churi, S. Kalesh, S. Prakash, and K. Kunte. 2018. Larval host plants of the butterflies of the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 10:11495–11550.
For the complete list of larval host plants of Indian butterflies, see the page on larval host plants.
,
Page citation
Saji, K., P. Churi, T. Karmakar, S. Mazumder, and K. Kunte. 2025. Melanitis zitenius (Herbst, 1796) – Great Evening Brown. In Kunte, K., S. Sondhi, and P. Roy (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 4.12. Published by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies. URL: https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/melanitis-zitenius, accessed 2025/07/12.