wingspan : 48 mm
common as this species may be, during the first years in the National Park, we only found Orophila cardases near 9 de Octubre (1800 meters) ; this is the lowest elevation where we saw this butterfly, more frequently encountered at 2000 meters and above.
then we saw it at 2500/3000 m at Runtun and East of Atillo, and at 2000 m at Machay, then also at Guarumales.
the female is very scarce.
like Perisama tr. tringa, Orophila cardases has variable red markings on the FWUN ; but, in the case of Orophila cardases there is a possibility of a tentative correlation between the amount of red and the geographic area, the amount of red increasing when going South (see individual variation).