|
Butterflies of
the Amazon and Andes
Starry Night
Metalmark
Echydna punctata
FELDER & FELDER, 1861
Family - RIODINIDAE
subfamily -
RIODININAE
Tribe - RIODININI
introduction
|
habitats |
lifecycle |
adult behaviour
Echydna punctata,
Pantiacolla, Rio Alto Madre de Dios, Peru
Introduction
The
genus
Echydna
includes only 2 species, but is very closely allied to the similarly marked
Calydna,
which includes a further 18 species. The butterflies are all very small, with
black or dark brown wings, marked in
Echydna
with a regular pattern of small white spots. In
Calydna
the white spots tend to be larger and irregular, and the butterflies also often
have metallic blue markings.
Echydna
punctata occurs from
Colombia to Peru, southern Brazil and Bolivia.
Habitats
The butterflies are found in wet tropical lowland rainforests at altitudes
between about 200-800m, They they tend
to be seen in small groups at intervals along damp and dark forest paths, and
seem commonest in areas dominated by bamboo.
Echydna punctata,
Pantiacolla, Rio Alto Madre de Dios, Peru
Lifecycle
To be completed.
Adult behaviour
The Starry Night Riodinid is often seen along dark damp forest paths, where it habitually settles with
wings open on ferns and other low vegetation. It is also commonly
seen on damp ground, imbibing dissolved minerals.
It
is almost inevitable that when one
Echydna is seen, others will be found very close by -
sometimes in aggregations of 30 or more at places where peccaries
urinate along shady forest tracks.
|
 |
|
Echydna punctata,
Pantiacolla, Rio Alto Madre de Dios, Peru |
The butterfly is more commonly
seen on cloudy days. On sunny days it tends to fly early in the
morning when light levels are low. Nevertheless I have
occasionally seen it mud-puddling on open sandbanks on misty
mornings.
|
