The habits of the 2 sexes differ
greatly. The male has a strong flight and flies
relentlessly all day long in search of females and food,
and hence its name, the Wanderer. It keeps low to the
ground and flies in a hurried manner, stopping now and
again to nectar on wild flowers or inspect a potential
mate. While nectaring, it hangs on the flowers at an
incline with half open wings and remains quite still.
After feeding, it flies away for a while before visiting
the next flower.
The female is more retiring and often stays in the
vicinity of the larval host plants, and is rarely seen
flying about in the company of the males. When flying
through open spaces, which it does from time to time, it
mimics the flight of the 'blue tigers' so well that it
requires an experienced observer to identify the cheat,
mostly because of its ability to come up with many
different identities - some look like the Blue Tiger,
others like the Glassy Tiger and so on. The females are
much easier to observe and identify when they are around
their larval host plant. |
