Butterflies of
the Amazon and Andes
Bellona Metalmark
Necyria bellona
WESTWOOD, 1851
Family - RIODINIDAE
subfamily -
RIODININAE
Tribe - RIODININI
Necyria bellona Ecuador
© Tony Hoare
Introduction
The
genus
Necyria
comprises of 3 known species - bellona,
ingaretha and duellona.
The butterflies are large in size, and closely related to
Lyropteryx and Cyrenia.
Necyria bellona
is distributed along the Andes from Colombia to Peru.
Habitats
This species is found in rainforest and cloudforest on both sides of the Andes,
at altitudes between about 600-2000m.
Lifecycle
To be completed.
Adult behaviour
Males are occasionally seen
visiting
sewage seepages or urine-soaked ground. They drink using the
"filter-feeding" method, whereby they imbibe almost continually,
extracting salts from mineral-rich patches of ground, or from the
edges of puddles. Periodically they squirt the demineralised water
from their anus, curving their abdomen so as to aim the liquid at
the ground beneath their feet. There it leaches more minerals from
the ground, which are re-imbibed. This process is continuous and
the butterflies often recycle the same fluid many times during a
period of several minutes.
In
Ecuador I have observed males feeding at the corpses of toads and
snakes, while females are more commonly seen nectaring,
particularly at
Eupatorium flowers.
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