About Cirrochroa malaya Felder, 1860
Cirrochroa malaya is an Indomalayan species of heliconiine butterfly, described by Cajetan and Rudolf Felder in 1860. C. emalea and C. malaya share many features, including the general wing pattern, the placement of black spots in the median area of the hindwings, and the placement of submarginal spots on the undersurface of the apical portion of the forewings. However, C. malaya differs fundamentally from C. emalea in two key traits: it lacks the yellow patch before the wing apex, and it completely lacks black scales on the veins of the upper surface of the forewings. On the undersurface of the forewing, the discal band increases only slightly in width as it approaches the costa. On the hindwing, the median band stays the same width from the costa all the way to the anal angle, with no contraction at all. The sexual organs of C. malaya are also different from those of C. emalea. In C. malaya, the uncus is weak, pointed, and not curved at its distal end. The valve is smaller and shorter, and has a dorsally incurved appendage.
