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Text and photographs protected by Copyright © Adrian Hoskins 2007, and must not be published in part or in whole elsewhere without prior written permission from the author.
Butterflies of the Andes
 
Striped Falcon
Corades ulema HEWITSON, 1850
Family - NYMPHALIDAE
subfamily - SATYRINAE
Tribe - SATYRINI
subtribe - PRONOPHILINA
 
 introduction | habitats | lifecycle | adult behaviour
 
Corades ulema mirianae, Manu cloudforest, Madre de Dios, Peru
 
Introduction
 
The Pronophilina are an exclusively neotropical group of Satyrines, all of which occur in cloudforests, at altitudes between 1800-3500 metres. The subtribe includes 562 known species, all of which feed as larvae on Chusquea - a genus of bamboo ( Poaceae ).
 
The genus Corades comprises of 23 described species, although it is likely that more will be discovered as remote cloudforest regions become more fully explored.
 
The butterflies are instantly recognisable by their large size and very distinctively shaped hindwings. The pattern on the underside hindwings varies according to species. Many such as iduna, cybele and medeba are a unicolorous brown, peppered and striated with grey and black, while others including ulema, cystene and chirone are beautifully marbled or banded with cream.
 
The uppersides of Corades species are dark brown. In most species the forewings are marked with splashes of orange or deep red. The upperside hindwings of several species including chelonis, enyo and pax are almost wholly reddish-orange. The upperside of ulema is a dingy earthy brown, heavily peppered on the forewings with ochreous.
 
Corades ulema occurs in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia.
 
Corades ulema mirianae, Manu cloudforest, Madre de Dios, Peru
 
Habitats
 
This species breeds in the forested calderas of extinct volcanoes such as Pululuhua Crater in Ecuador, and in cloudforests at altitudes of 2000-2800m in Peru and Bolivia.
 
Lifecycle
 
The lifecycle appears to be unrecorded, but the following generalisations are applicable to the subtribe Pronophilina, and probably apply also to Corades :
 
The eggs are usually white or pale greenish white, spherical, and laid singly either on the foodplants or on surrounding vegetation.
 
The caterpillars are typically pale brown, marked on the back and sides with longitudinal dark lines, and taper towards both ends. The head is large in proportion to the body, and has two short forward-pointing horns. The tip of the abdomen has a pair of caudal forks, used to flick the frass ( droppings ) away from the feeding area.
 
The caterpillars of all known Pronophilina feed on Chusquea - a genus of bamboo which grows in thickets, mainly along the courses of streams.
 
Adult behaviour

 

The butterflies are encountered singly and infrequently, and perch on foliage at heights of about 3 or 4 metres above the ground. In mid-late afternoon the males will sometimes descend to imbibe moisture at the edge of shallow streams, particularly where they ford unsurfaced roads in well forested areas.

 

 
 
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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