wingspan : 39 mm
Ithomiola floralis is an Amazonian butterfly ; there would be three subspecies :
- in the Guyanas and the Amazon basin, Ithomiola floralis floralis, characterized by a red rim on the HW,
- on the lower slopes of the Andes,
. at low elevations, from the SE of Colombia to Northern Peru, Ithomiola floralis cascella, characterized by a variable orange patch on the FW apex,
. at slightly higher elevations, and from Panama to Bolivia, Ithomiola floralis celtilla, only black, sometimes with an orange rim on both FW and HW.
but, in a 20 km radius around Puyo, we saw specimens looking like Ithomiola floralis celtilla and others looking like Ithomiola floralis cascella, and Jeffrey Glassberg took a picture of a typical Ithomiola floralis floralis specimen, with a red lining on the HW.
so we believe we'd better forget these subspecies and consider Ithomiola floralis as a variable species.
