Subspecies in India
(1) Tajuria megistia megistia (Hewitson, [1869]) - Northern Orange-and-Black Royal
Photo Gallery and Species Biology
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This species has been recorded so far from Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh within the Indian limits. The historical range given as "Assam" (Evans 1932) is suspect: there are no specimens collected from within the modern borders of Assam state. However, there are historical specimens collected from the Khasi Hills, which is now in Meghalaya, which was, during the British Raj, treated as part of Assam.
The images published on this page (media codes BOI-pqe694 and BOI-pqe695) on 3 November 2025, appears to be the first photographic record of the species from Arunachal Pradesh, and the first record within India in recent decades.
This is a very rare species that occurs in dense evergreen forests at mid-elevations (1,200 to 1,800 m).
| State | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | No date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT | |||||||||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Arunachal Pradesh | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Assam | |||||||||||||
| Bihar | |||||||||||||
| Chandigarh | |||||||||||||
| Chhattisgarh | |||||||||||||
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT | |||||||||||||
| Daman & Diu UT | |||||||||||||
| Delhi | |||||||||||||
| Goa | |||||||||||||
| Gujarat | |||||||||||||
| Haryana | |||||||||||||
| Himachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Jammu and Kashmir UT | |||||||||||||
| Jharkhand | |||||||||||||
| Karnataka | |||||||||||||
| Kerala | |||||||||||||
| Ladakh UT | |||||||||||||
| Lakshadweep | |||||||||||||
| Madhya Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Maharashtra | |||||||||||||
| Manipur | |||||||||||||
| Meghalaya | |||||||||||||
| Mizoram | |||||||||||||
| Nagaland | |||||||||||||
| Odisha | |||||||||||||
| Puducherry UT | |||||||||||||
| Punjab | |||||||||||||
| Rajasthan | |||||||||||||
| Sikkim | |||||||||||||
| Tamil Nadu | |||||||||||||
| Tripura | |||||||||||||
| Uttar Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Uttarakhand | |||||||||||||
| West Bengal | |||||||||||||
| Total | 1 |
Page citation
Kunte, K. 2025. Tajuria megistia (Hewitson, [1869]) – Orange-and-Black Royal. 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/index.php/tajuria-megistia, accessed 2025/11/05.