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Butterflies of
the Amazon rainforest
Marica Blue Ringlet
Chloreuptychia
marica
WEYMER, 1911
Family -
NYMPHALIDAE
subfamily -
SATYRINAE
Tribe - SATYRINI
subtribe -
EUPTYCHIINA
introduction
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habitats |
lifecycle |
adult behaviour
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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Chloreuptychia
marica, Manu Biosphere Reserve, 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. All have a pair of elongated silvery ocelli within the series of
eyespots on the underside hindwings.
Chloreuptychia marica
occurs in eastern Peru.
Habitats
This species is confined to primary rainforest habitats at altitudes
between about 100-600m.
Lifecycle
I have no data relating to
marica,
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 butterflies inhabit the understorey, and are usually only seen along the darker and narrower trails.
The adults do not visit flowers, feeding instead at decomposing fungi, rotting fruits, and bird droppings. They spend most of their time sitting motionless on leaves in the shade, and if disturbed they generally fly a distance of no more than 3 or 4 metres, and then re-settle.
The orange 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 the butterfly more difficult for a predator to detect. The ocelli are probably a secondary defence - if a bird succeeds in detecting where the butterfly has settled, it would probably aim it's attack at the most visible feature, i.e. the ocelli. The fact that there are multiple ocelli adds to the bird's confusion, delaying the attack momentarily, and allowing the butterfly to escape with nothing worse than a nicked wing.
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