Orsotriaena medus (Fabricius, 1775) - Medus Brown

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
This species has been popularly 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 on this website because it is both simple and reflects the scientific name of the species, so it is easy to remember.

Photo Gallery and Species Biology

StateJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecNo date
Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT111111
Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh1132
Assam41661219312
Bihar
Chandigarh
Chhattisgarh12
Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT
Daman & Diu UT
Delhi
Goa1311
Gujarat
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir UT
Jharkhand
Karnataka5211112166103
Kerala9113131483141
Ladakh UT
Lakshadweep
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra1125167
Manipur
Meghalaya11
Mizoram1
Nagaland13
Odisha
Puducherry UT
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim1
Tamil Nadu111
Tripura11
Uttar Pradesh
Uttarakhand
West Bengal1
Total2149133481542255115
Brachiaria mutica (Kalesh & Prakash 2007), Oryza sativa (Wynter-Blyth 1957; Kunte 2000; Robinson et al. 2010) (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., N. Kawthankar, and K. Kunte 2023. 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://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/orsotriaena-medus, accessed 2023/06/06.