I agree, it does look a good fit. Full name Mycalesis suaveolens duguidi (Wood Mason's Bush Brown).
However, this is another northern species, not previously found on the peninsular. Neverthess, Samui and KP seem to have a tendancy of having species not meant to be there!
I was looking at some Australian butterflies when I saw that M. perseus is found there and voila ! there is a dry season form which looks very similar to this.
A search brings up this dry season form of M. perseus from India.
The wing perspective is distorted and the colour rendition is too dull. http://www.flickr.com/photos/satyend...57623002604607
The key feature is the sub-basal dark line which is very irregular and matches your pic.
The dark line in M. suaveolens is too smooth, & moreover it is very unlikely to have stray into KPN from far north.
I didn't realised that the taxon distanti is now separated rom intermedia as a distinct species.
The dsf of M perseus in my previous is probably incorrect.
Even in dsf the alignment of the eyespots should remain the same. Thus since the 3 hindwing spots (their centre dots actually) are almost in alignment we can rule out M. perseus.
This leaves the dsf of M. intermedia & distant.
M. intermedia typically have 2 forewing spots , thus 2 dots in dsf; also the upper end of the white band on the hindwing is angled in (probably inconsistent feature).
Here is a valid dsf example. http://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/185...sis-intermedia
This leaves the dsf of M. distanti to consider.
TL Seow
PS. It does get very confusing as I don't know which of the images on the net are correct, but I believed it is one of these , perseus, intermedia, & distanti.
On the assumption that none of the northern species have invaded KPN, I am trying to see whether the identity can be deduced by a process of elimination.
It seems the extreme dsf of all spp. can have very similar patterns with a yellowish diffusion of the white band. As to why it occur during the wet season it is a mystery.
Here is a correct image of a dsf M. perseus from India.
Notice the dots in space 2 & 3 are well out of alignment with the 2 dots in space 1b. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Co...W_IMG_4190.jpg
I think we can safely ruled out M. perseus.
M. perseoides often have 4 spot on the forewing & would be a prime candidate, but the sub-basal dark line typically form a tooth at space 1b. http://blog-imgs-42.fc2.com/s/p/a/sp...20110122-1.jpg
I think we can rule this one out as well.
Thanks Dr. Seow for the big and interesting explanations. I'll follow to check the Mycalesis in my area to see for the different decorations wet-dry season.