Orange Oakleaf
Kallima sp. · Butterflies
Orange Oakleaf
Carlsbad, 7 March 2026
An Orange Oakleaf in the butterfly house at Carlsbad, a South and Southeast Asian butterfly of forest and scrub that spends the dry season sitting still on a twig looking exactly like this.
Wings closed, it is a dead leaf almost perfectly: the shape tapers to a false leaf stalk at one end and a point at the other, the underside is mottled brown with a pale central vein-line, and there is a scatter of fungal-looking spots for good measure. It is one of the most complete disguises in the insect world; open, the same wings are banded in vivid orange and blue-black.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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