Butterflies of
the Amazon and Andes
Phidias Firetip
Pyrrhopyge phidias
LINNAEUS, 1758
Family - HESPERIIDAE
subfamily -
PYRRHOPYGINAE
tribe - PYRRHOPYGINI
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Pyrrhopyge
phidias bixae ( and friends ! ), Rio Madre de Dios, Peru |
Introduction
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Butterfly photographers often find
themselves in interesting situations - the river beach where the above photo was
taken was swarming with butterflies - dozens of Marpesia
Daggerwings, Adelpha Sisters,
Panacea Red Flashers, Protesilaus
Swordtails, Callicore Numberwings,
Dryas
Longwings, Eunica Purplewings, and smaller numbers
of shimmering metallic Rhetus and Caria Metalmarks - creatures whose beauty simply
defies the imagination.
Getting photos of these
fabulous butterflies however is not just a matter of casually pressing the
shutter button. It often involves such dubious "pleasures" such as lying on scalding hot sand
for an hour at a time in blistering tropical sunlight amidst hundreds of sweat
bees, most of which are hell bent on getting into your eyes and ears !
With so many insects swarming in one
spot it's inevitable that many butterflies take flight just as you press
the shutter, either because they fly up to investigate other butterflies, or
because they are molested by the bees. Sand flies are a whole lot of fun as well - during the space of an
hour on the river beach I estimate that I was inflicted with somewhere in excess
of a thousand very painful bites, with the result that my arms swelled to
almost double their normal circumference !
A friend who was similarly
determined to get photographs found when he got home to England that he had
collected an infestation of bot-fly larvae under his scalp - for those who don't
know about bot flies Dermatobia hominis, here are a
few delightful notes about the lifecycle :
An
egg-laden female bot fly captures a female mosquito and glues her eggs to it.
The mosquito is then released and later bites a victim. The host's body heat
triggers the bot fly eggs to hatch. The tiny grubs fall off and burrow into the
skin of the host, securing themselves with anal hooks. Soon a small mound forms
which grows to the size of a duck egg before the mature larva falls out. Not the
sort of thing you like to find on the top of your head !
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The
subfamily Pyrrhopyginae includes 163 species, all of which are restricted
to the neotropical region.
The butterflies
are characterised by having a massive and muscular thorax, a large head, and a
conical abdomen with compressed segments.
Several genera including
Jemadia and Elbella
have a pattern of hyaline "windows" on the forewings, and are marked with
stripes and bands of brilliant blue and white. Other genera such as Mysarbia, Mysoria
and Pyrrhopyge
lack the hyaline windows, and are characterised instead by having bright pink or
red markings on the head and / or on the tip of the abdomen.
The
38 species in the genus Pyrrhopyge are all similar in appearance,
typically having a black or dark brown ground colour, and white or orange
fringes. In most species the head and tail are both bright red or orange, and in
some species such as telassina there are orange
shoulder-stripes on the thorax. The wings are either black or dark brown, and in
sunlight both wing surfaces reflect a metallic sheen which varies in hue from
green to blue or purple according to angle of view. In some species such as phidias
the basal area of the underside hindwings is white.
Pyrrhopyge phidias
occurs throughout the tropical regions of South America, and has 11 named
subspecies.
Pyrrhopyge phidias, Satipo, Peru
Habitats
This species occurs in lowland and mid-elevation primary rainforests, at
altitudes between sea level and about 1400m.
Lifecycle
To be completed.
Adult behaviour
Males of
this species are often seen on the ground
imbibing mineralised water from wet rocks, small pools, or at the
edges of rivers or lagoons. They are usually seen singly, but
sometimes 3 or 4 will congregate to feed at bird droppings on the
forest floor.
When settling to feed they
initially hold their wings erect, but after a few moments spread
them flat, particularly in cloudy or hazy conditions. If disturbed
they usually dart up, circle around a nearby tree and settle on
it's foliage until such time as they feel it is safe to return to
their feeding place.
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