Dark Evening Brown (Melanitis phedima)

Scientific Name:
In the scientific world, this butterfly is known as Melanitis phedima, and in English, they are commonly called the dark evening brown.
Family and Genus:
According to the classification of the animal kingdom, it belongs to the family Nymphalidae of the order Lepidoptera. It is a recognized species under the genus Melanitis.

Origin and Habitat:
They are naturally found and distributed across South and Southeast Asian countries. They inhabit forest areas, shaded groves, and vegetation where they usually fly around at dusk.

Food:
Adult butterflies feed on flower nectar, tree sap, and rotting fruit juices. Their caterpillars feed on various grasses and host plants such as bamboo and related grass species.

Reproduction:
Females lay eggs on host grasses and plants. The eggs hatch into caterpillars, which feed and grow through different stages before turning into pupae and finally emerging as adult butterflies.

Benefits:
They play an important role in the natural ecosystem by acting as pollinators for various wild plants and serving as a food source for birds and other forest animals.

Harmful Aspects:
They are completely harmless insects that do not cause any significant damage to humans, domestic animals, or major agricultural crops.

I learned about them from various sites including iNaturalist, Wikipedia and Google.

_{​(All posts are written in Bengali and translated into English using Google Translate.)}

Camera Used	Samsung SM-G973F
F-Stop	F2.4
ISO speed	ISO
Focal length	26mm
Flash	No
Editing app	Lightroom
Photography	(Melanitis phedima)
Photographer	@mshbd
Location	Natore, Bangladesh