Chersonesia risa ( Common Maplet) - Sikkim Butterfly

The fascinating insect you are referring to is the Common Maplet. It belongs to the brush-footed butterfly family Nymphalidae, genus Chersonesia, and species Chersonesia risa.

For identification, it is easy to recognize by its bright golden-orange wings etched with sharp, parallel dark lines that look just like contour lines on a miniature road map. Native to South and Southeast Asia, its distribution stretches across the Eastern Himalayas, Northeast India, Myanmar, and Thailand, thriving in lush mid-elevation forests.

Historically described in 1848 by the British naturalist Edward Doubleday, this insect holds great ecological significance as a helpful pollinator and an avid mud-puddler, gathering nutrients along damp riverbanks.