Butterflies of
the Amazon and Andes
Harmonia Ringlet
Hermeuptychia
harmonia
BUTLER,
1867
Family - NYMPHALIDAE
subfamily -
SATYRINAE
Tribe - SATYRINI
subtribe -
EUPTYCHIINA
Hermeuptychia harmonia, Manu cloudforest, Peru
Introduction
There are about
400 described members of the subtribe Euptychiina, which includes all the
neotropical "ringlet" butterflies.
Until
fairly recently almost all were included in the genus
Euptychia,
but the revisions by Forster ( 1964 ) and Lamas ( 2004 ) divide this
"convenience" genus into a number of smaller genera, including
Caeruleuptychia, Cissia, Magneuptychia,
Cepheuptychia,
Chloreuptychia
and
Euptychioides.
The "Euptychia"
ringlets are notoriously difficult to identify. The ground colour, wingspan, width
of the median bands, and size of ocelli vary within each species
according to sex, habitat, location, altitude and
seasonal climatic conditions.
It is appropriate here to quote the words of d'Abrera, who when
referring to the hundreds of specimens depicted in his
"Butterflies of the Neotropical region"
states "I cannot tell with certainty whether the taxa figured
are species, races, or infrasubspecific forms".
It has been
suggested that the illustration above depicts
Hermeuptychia harmonia, and I am
listing it as such tentatively, but it is worth noting that the
differences between species in this group are so minute that
they often escape the attention even of highly experienced
taxonomists. By way of example, in 2009 a "new" species
Splendeuptychia ackeryi was
separated from other similar species mainly on the basis that it
had a slightly "hairier" face !
Hermeuptychia harmonia
is found from Colombia to Peru. The insect illustrated above may
be a subspecies of harmonia, but
could equally be a distinct species.
Habitats
The butterfly depicted on this
page was
photographed at Manu cloudforest in the eastern Andes of Peru, at an altitudes
between 1500m, and has been observed by myself and others at altitudes between
about 1400-1900m in the same area.
Lifecycle
Unknown. The lifecycles
of related species would seem to indicate that it probably lays it's eggs
singly on the foodplant, which is likely to be a member of the Poaceae or
Marantaceae. The larvae are likely to be brown, with fine longitudinal lines
along the back and sides, and with a pair of caudal prongs.
Adult behaviour
The butterflies are usually encountered in three's and four's in
well forested areas, mud-puddling on sand or bare soil in roadside
ditches or runnels. They also occur along wide sunlit forest
paths, open riverbanks, and other grassy areas.
If disturbed they
flutter quickly, but settle within a few metres, usually on
grasses or low herbage.
|
