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Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007, and must not be published in part or in whole elsewhere without prior written permission from the author.
Butterflies of the Amazon rainforest
 
Iridescent Ringlet
Chloreuptychia herseis GODART, 1824
Family - NYMPHALIDAE
subfamily - SATYRINAE
Tribe - SATYRINI
subtribe - EUPTYCHIINA
 
 introduction | habitats | lifecycle | adult behaviour
 
Chloreuptychia herseis, Madre de Dios, Peru
 
Introduction
 
There are about 400 described members of the subtribe Euptychiina, which includes all of the neotropical "ringlet" butterflies. Until fairly recently almost all were included in the genus Euptychia, but the revisions by Forster ( 1964 ) and Lamas ( 2004 ) divide this "convenience" genus into a number of smaller genera, one of which is Chloreuptychia.
 
The 12 species in the genus Chloreuptychia are characterised by having a reflective blue sheen on the underside, and on the upperside hindwings. The almost oval shape of the forewing is another common feature.
 
Chloreuptychia herseis occurs in Surinam, Guyana, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil.
 
Habitats
 
This species is confined to wet primary rainforest habitats at elevations between about 100-800m. The butterflies inhabit the understorey, and are usually only seen along the darker and narrower trails, flying at a height of less than 2 metres above the ground.
 
Lifecycle
 
I have no data relating to herseis, but the lifecycle is likely to be similar to that of Chloreuptychia arnaca, which is described below :
 
The eggs are globular, shining white in colour, and laid singly on grasses in the genera Eleusine, Oplismenus and Ichnanthus, usually where they grow around the base of trees.
 
The caterpillar is brown, with a row of diamond-shaped marks along the back. The head is black with a pair of short horns, and the tip of the abdomen bears a pair of caudal prongs. In common with almost all other Satyrines, the larvae feed nocturnally.
 
The chrysalis is mottled in shades of brown, tapers towards the cremaster, and has a blunt head. It is attached to a stem, projecting horizontally.
 
Adult behaviour

 

The adult butterflies do not visit flowers, feeding instead at decomposing fungi, rotting fruits, bird droppings and tree sap.

 

They spend most of their time sitting motionless on leaves, or on the ground amongst grasses and leaf litter. If disturbed they generally fly a distance of no more than 3 or 4 metres, and then re-settle.

 

The vertical lines on the underside are an example of disruptive colouration - they help to break up the outline of the wings into separate shapes, making it more difficult for a predator to detect the butterfly, particularly when settled amongst vertical stems. The ocelli probably function as a second line of defence - if an insectivorous bird detects where the butterfly has settled, it would probably aim it's attack at the most visible feature, i.e. the ocelli. If this happened, the butterfly would probably escape with nothing worse than a nicked wing.

 

 
 
Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007-2008, and must not be reproduced or published in part or in whole elsewhere in any form without written permission from Adrian Hoskins. Breach of copyright will be pursued by litigation.
 
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