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Butterflies of
the Amazon and Andes
Andean Buckeye
Junonia vestina
FELDER & FELDER,
1867
Family -
NYMPHALIDAE
subfamily -
NYMPHALINAE
Tribe - JUNONIINI
Junonia
vestina, male, Manu cloudforest, 2800m, Peru.
Introduction
The tribe Junoniini includes some of
the most colourful and instantly recognisable butterflies in the
world, including the African genera
Precis Pansies and
Salamis Mother of Pearl butterflies, and the Asian
Kallima Dead Leaf butterflies. In the neotropics
the tribe is represented by the genera
Anartia, Junonia, Hypolimnas, Metamorpha, Napeocles
and Siproeta.
The genus Junonia
is very closely allied to
Precis,
in fact the two are regarded as synonymous by some taxonomists.
There are Junonia
species
in the neotropics -
coenia, evarete, genoveva
and
vestina. The latter can at first glance be mistaken for a Chilean Painted
Lady Vanessa carye.
The shape of the forewings in
vestina
however is less angular, and the dark markings far more linear.
Junonia vestina
occurs only in southern Peru and Bolivia.
Junonia
vestina, male, Manu cloudforest, 2800m, Peru.
Habitats
This species is locally common in the puna grassland / upper cloudforest transitional
zone of the eastern Andes, at elevations between about 2400-3000m.
Lifecycle
The lifecycle is
apparently unknown. The larvae of other Junonia
species feed on a wide range of plants in the families Plantaginaceae, Onagraceae, Scrophulariaceae, Verbenaceae, Crassulaceae
and Rhizophoraceae.
Adult behaviour
Males are usually seen in two's and three's imbibing moisture from
bare ground in rocky terrain where small rivulets ford mountain
roads. Both sexes nectar at Senecio (
ragworts ), which are abundant in the vicinities where the
butterfly occurs.
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