wingspan : 40 mm
we found this Neoxeniades sp at Sardinayacu, 1400 m, and could not identify it ; we would tend to think it is an undescribed species
Bernard Hermier (pers. com.) had the idea it could possibly be the first known male of Neoxeniades irena ? but this species, irena, is problematic,
- it has been described from a unique female, which is not particularly reliable,
- and this female would come from Ambato, a town located at 2600 m in a dry area ! and we know that Neoxeniades is a wet lowlands Genus ; all the many Neoxeniades that we collected or that were pictured in Ecuador come from elevations between sea level and 900 meters with only three exceptions : this specimen collected at 1400 m, at Sardinayacu,a male N. anchicayensis, also ollected at 1400 m, West of the Andes, at los Cedros aznd one N. turmada pictured at around 1800 m near Cosanga ; it is then very likely that Ambato, once an active cventer for the commerce of butterflies, is not the place where the specimen was collected, but the town where it was purchased, and that we do not know where this irena type comes from?
last point : this male displays a rather specific set of androconias (see new facts page), that we also found on another unidentified Neoxeniades collected at Pimpilala.
left, Sardinayacu specimen, right, Pimpilala specimen
