It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1771 (who gave the type location as "China", a designation followed by some later authors).

Antennae, head, thorax, and abdomen black.

An orange-coloured bar, about 1⁄4 inch (6 mm) broad, rises in the middle of the superior wings, running circularly and crossing the inferior ones, meeting about the middle of the abdominal edges.

Wings shining brown, exhibiting various shades of changeable colours; the tips terminating in an ash colour.

This article related to members of the butterfly subfamily Biblidinae is a stub.