Subject: Butterfly in South Brazil
Geographic location of the bug: Florianópolis SC Brazil
Date: 04/17/2019
Time: 10:13 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman: Dear Mr. Bugman, it is fall and there are beautiful asteraceae flowering. I found this beautiful butterfly feeding on one Eupatorium inulifolium (I think) and would like your help with its identification please.
How you want your letter signed: Carolina
Dear Carolina,
We actually believe this is a diurnal Moth and not a butterfly, but we have not been able to locate any similar looking Brazilian specimens. We need to do more research, and perhaps Cesar Crash or one of our other readers will recognize this beauty and write in with an identification.
Oh! Thanks for posting! Will standby for this moth ID.
Update: Metalmark Butterfly
Two different readers wrote in identifying this as a Metalmark Butterfly in the family Riodinidae. The closest match was found by Cesar Crash on Butterflies of America.
Oh thank you so much Daniel.
This is a very puzzling creature. It’s very distintive, but I don’t remember I have ever seen this species, and can’t find anything similar. Perhaps she has more images, where we can see the ventral side.
Thanks Cesar. There was a second image, but also a dorsal view. I will write and see if there are any additional images. I thought it resembled a Fruit Piercing Moth and I’m guessing it might be family Erebidae.
I’m confident this is Riodinidae, looks a lot like this female Periplaces: https://www.butterfliesofamerica.com/imagehtmls/Riodinidae/Periplacis_glaucoma_isthmica_F_090206_COSTA_RICA_HEREDIA_PROV._La_Selva_Biological_Station_Sarapiqui_02-IX-2006_Yahaira_Rojas_Duran_i.htm But seems not to be present on Santa Catarina. I ended up on this species by luck right now, searching another Riodinid. I’ll try to figure out what species exactly.
Thanks Much Cesar.
It seems that it must be, indeed, female P. glaucoma, three subspecies in Brasil, no clue what subspecies in the region, rare sighting.
Thanks so much for all the effort you put into this identification. As soon as the family ID came from you and another reader, I wanted to hit myself on the forehead for not considering Metalmarks.
Could this be in Riodinidae, maybe genus Caria or Symmachia? The body shape seems right, and the indentation on the forewing costal margin also matches. But the forewing tips don’t seem to match; they’re more pointed than Caria species seem to be.
Thanks so much for the assistance. We will update the posting.
🙂