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

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

StateJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecNo date
Andaman and Nicobar Islands UT111111
Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh1142
Assam41763219322
Bihar
Chandigarh
Chhattisgarh113
Dadra & Nagar Haveli UT
Daman & Diu UT
Delhi
Goa11311
Gujarat
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu and Kashmir UT
Jharkhand
Karnataka53212121913103
Kerala12113131483141
Ladakh UT
Lakshadweep
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra135125187
Manipur
Meghalaya13
Mizoram11
Nagaland13
Odisha
Puducherry UT
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim1
Tamil Nadu111
Tripura11
Uttar Pradesh
Uttarakhand
West Bengal1
Total246111368141545355515

Brachiaria mutica, Oryza sativaUrochloa 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.

Page citation

Saji, K., N. Kawthankar, A. Rane, and K. Kunte 2024. 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 2024/12/04.