Subspecies in India
(1) Orsotriaena medus medus (Fabricius, 1775) – Oriental Medus Brown
(2) Orsotriaena medus mandata (Moore, [1858]) – Sahyadri Medus Brown
(3) Orsotriaena medus nicobarica Evans, 1932 – Nicobar Medus Brown
Taxonomic Information
This species has popularly been known in India by an English name, the Nigger, since 1932 but this name is racially offensive and therefore no longer socially acceptable. Recently, three other alternative names have been suggested for it: Junglebrown (Smith 1989), Dusky Bush-brown and Smooth-eyed Bush-brown (Braby 1997, 2010). We use the name Medus Brown because it is simple and it reflects the scientific name of the species, so it is easy to remember.
Photo Gallery and Species Biology
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| State | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | No date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Andhra Pradesh | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Arunachal Pradesh | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | ||||||||
| Assam | 4 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | ||
| Bihar | |||||||||||||
| Chandigarh | |||||||||||||
| Chhattisgarh | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||
| Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT | |||||||||||||
| Daman & Diu UT | |||||||||||||
| Delhi | |||||||||||||
| Goa | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Gujarat | |||||||||||||
| Haryana | |||||||||||||
| Himachal Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Jammu and Kashmir UT | |||||||||||||
| Jharkhand | |||||||||||||
| Karnataka | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 14 | 10 | 3 | |
| Kerala | 12 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 8 | 3 | 14 | 1 | ||
| Ladakh UT | |||||||||||||
| Lakshadweep | |||||||||||||
| Madhya Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Maharashtra | 1 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 5 | 18 | 7 | ||||||
| Manipur | |||||||||||||
| Meghalaya | 2 | 3 | |||||||||||
| Mizoram | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Nagaland | 1 | 3 | |||||||||||
| Odisha | |||||||||||||
| Puducherry UT | |||||||||||||
| Punjab | |||||||||||||
| Rajasthan | |||||||||||||
| Sikkim | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Tamil Nadu | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Tripura | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||
| Uttar Pradesh | |||||||||||||
| Uttarakhand | |||||||||||||
| West Bengal | 1 | ||||||||||||
| Total | 24 | 6 | 11 | 16 | 7 | 8 | 14 | 16 | 47 | 36 | 57 | 16 |
Brachiaria mutica, Oryza sativa, Urochloa setigera (Poaceae). Urochloa setigera has been recorded as a new larval host plant by Abhishek Rane from Sindhudurg, Maharashtra in July 2023.
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.
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Page citation
Saji, K., N. Kawthankar, A. Rane, and K. Kunte 2025. Orsotriaena medus (Fabricius, 1775) – Medus 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://ifoundbutterflies.org/orsotriaena-medus, accessed 2025/04/24.