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Butterflies of
the Amazon and Andes
Annulata Mosaic
Colobura annulata
WILLMOTT, CONSTANTINI & HALL, 2001
Family -
NYMPHALIDAE
subfamily -
NYMPHALINAE
Tribe - NYMPHALINI
Colobura annulata, Catarata Bayoz,
Le Merced,
Peru
Introduction
The tribe Coeini comprises 6 genera -
Colobura,
Baeotus,
Historis,
Pycina,
Smyrna
and
Tigridia.
There are 2 species in the genus
Colobura,
namely
dirce
and
annulata,
both found throughout the Amazonian region.
Colobura
annulata can be distinguished from dirce by
the much narrower submarginal band on it's underside forewing, and by the
slightly different sub-costal markings. It was separated from
dirce only in 2001, and is much less common than
that species.
The butterflies habitually sit on the tree trunks in a head downwards
posture, at a height of about 2 metres, to imbibe sap and moisture from
crevices in the bark. If approached they sometimes try to evade the intruder by
running around to the opposite side of the tree, and if followed
will run back to their original position - quite literally forcing
the observer to run around in circles after them. They are
extremely reluctant to take flight when feeding, and if they are
forced to do so they quickly return to resume feeding.
Habitats
The butterfly breeds in primary and secondary forest at altitudes between about
200-1500m.
Lifecycle
The lifecycle is unknown
but is probably very similar to that of Colobura dirce
given below:
The eggs are white and
laid in groups of between 2-10 on leaves of the foodplant.
The young larvae
feed on Cecropia
leaves and make "frass chains" i.e. chains of droppings linked
together by strands of silk, which protrude from the edges of the leaves. When not feeding they rest on these frass chains, which provide them with a defence against marauding ants.
For reasons that are not fully understood, ants seem unwilling to walk over
frass chains. The fully grown larvae are velvety black and adorned
with white rosetted spines along the back, and yellow spines along the sides.
They live and feed gregariously in groups of between 5 and 20. When feeding they
bite through the stems, causing alleochemics ( anti-herbivore juices ) to bleed
from the plant, stopping it from mobilising chemicals into the area being eaten.
The
pupa, as described by DeVries in "Butterflies of Costa Rica", is elongate,
cylindrical, and looks like a dead broken twig.
Adult behaviour
Males commonly visit orchards
or other sites where there are fallen fruits. They are also sometimes seen
visiting sandbanks or
damp soil. At these times they tend to walk about while
probing for moisture, often fanning their wings slowly as they do so.
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