Description
A medium sized butterfly with a wingspan of 60-75 mm. The female, which is much smaller than the male,  appears in 3 forms: the common white form, principalis, the less common yellow form, flava, and the rare white and yellow form, semiflava.
More on seasonal variations

Similar species
Lesser Albatross, Striped Albatross. Details

Status, distribution and habitat
A common butterfly that occurs all over the island up to 2000 feet elevation. It is seen all year round but is most abundant during the monsoons, and is principally an insect of the dry semi-evergreen forests of the dry and intermediate zones.

Habits
Very similar to the Lesser Albatross. Joins migratory flights and is often seen in very large numbers during the pre-monsoonal periods. The migrant populations are mostly male. The females are more retiring and remain in the thickets. Spectacular migrations of many thousands of these butterflies described by naturalists of the days gone by are now quite rare.

Early stages
The eggs are laid singly or in small batches on the leaves of Drypetes sepiaria, one of the commonest tree species encountered in the dry zone forests.

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Danaidae | Satyridae | Amathusiidae | Nymphalidae | Acraeidea | Libytheidae | Riodinidae | Lycaenidae | Pieridae | Papilionidae | Hesperidae