About Lexias canescens
Lexias canescens is a butterfly species with a wingspan of approximately 10 cm (3.9 in). Adult individuals have dark brown upper wing surfaces marked with whitish or yellow spots, a pattern that works as effective camouflage against predators. Its caterpillars are pale green and covered in long spinous bristles. The subspecies Lexias canescens pardalina males are quite similar to small females of Lexias pardalis, but the underside of their hindwings has a yellow-washed color. According to Seitz, this is a small, unremarkable species that differs from Lexias dirtea in that both sexes of Lexias canescens are almost identical to one another. It still shares traits with Lexias dirtea, including red-brown palpi, and both sexes of Lexias canescens closely resemble the wing pattern of female E. dirtea F. Yellow spotting arrangement varies among the different islands where the species occurs. In the nominotypical subspecies Lexias canescens canescens Btlr. (127 a), the macular rows on the hindwings are not always red-brown, and are usually pale clay-yellow. In Lexias canescens canescens females, the spots are larger; spots in the median area of the forewing turn white, and the submarginal macular row of both wings is also whitish at the middle and the anal angle. This species is found in Southeast Asia, specifically on Borneo, Peninsular Malaya, Singapore, Sumatra, Bangka Island, the Sulu Islands, and Belitung. It inhabits tropical forests, living in the undergrowth and along shaded trails.
