2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - WHITE MORPHO BUTTERFLY (Morpho polyphemus)

 Morpho polyphemus, the white morpho or Polyphemus white morpho, is a white butterfly of Mexico and Central America, ranging as far south as Costa Rica. As suggested by its name, this is one of the relatively few Morphos that is white rather than blue. Some authorities include M. luna, which is also white, as a subspecies of M. polyphemus.

Both the upper and lower wings are bright white, with some small light brown markings. There is a row of small eyespots on the underside of the hindwings.

The caterpillar has been known to eat Paullinia pinnata (family Sapindaceae) and Inga (family Fabaceae).

The species epithet is derived from Polyphemus, a character in Greek mythology, from the small eyespots on the wing. Polyphemus was the one-eyed son of Poseidon and Thoosa.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - BLACK SATYR BUTTERFLY (Satyrus actaea)

Satyrus actaea, the black satyr, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in South-Western Europe, Asia Minor, Syria, Iran and Baluchistan (SW Pakistan).

The length of the forewings is 24 to 28 mm. Upperside of male black-brown, with a dark sheen in live specimens: the 2 ocelli of the forewing mostly represented only by the small bluish white pupils. In old specimens, with the ground-colour faded, the pupil is bordered with deep black. Between the ocelli of the forewing sometimes 2 minute white dots. The number of the ocelli may be enlarged or diminished as in all Satyrus, e. g. merula Schultz, ornata Schultz. In the female the distal band is indicated by a paler, sometimes yellowish brown tint, and the ocelli are considerably larger than in the male. Underside different in the various forms, with a distinctly defined distal ban, a dark dentate line in the cell and across the hindwing, and a somewhat irregular submarginal line.

The butterfly is on wing in July and August in one generation. The habitat is rocky places at 600 to 1,800 m. The larvae feed on various grasses (Brachypodium and Bromus sp. and sedges).

22-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - GREAT KITE SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY (Protesilaus protesilaus)

Protesilaus protesilaus is a species of butterfly of the family Papilionidae. It is found in the Neotropical realm.

Bands one and two of the hindwing usually extend beyond the second submedian, band four mostly goes beyond the middle of the cell and sometimes reaches to its hinder margin, the transparent submarginal band has at least in the costal third brownish scales; hindwing more strongly dentate than in Protesilaus glaucolaus leucas. Frons in specimens from the Andes often entirely brownish black. Dorsal edge of the harpe dilated into a tooth, which is sometimes absent in specimens from the Andes. Submarginal spots of the hindwing white, rarely slightly yellowish, hindwing more strongly dentate than in Protesilaus glaucolaus, the first and second bands of the forewing on the whole shorter than in Protesilaus molops. Frons sometimes entirety brown black. The scent-scales very long and thin. The dorsal edge of the harpe deflexed, lying flat on the harpe, strongly dentate.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - QUEEN OF SPAIN FRITILLARY BUTTERFLY (Issoria lathonia)

This migratory species is widespread in most of Europe, in North Africa, Canary Islands, and in the eastern Palearctic realm (Central Asia, Himalayas, Baluchistan, and Western China). These butterflies live in open areas, in dry lawns, agricultural wastelands and in extensive crops at altitudes between sea level and 2700 m.

This species is present almost throughout the year, with three or four successive generations. The eggs are laid separately on the underside of the leaves of the host plant. The larval cycle is exceptionally short. The pupation takes place among the low vegetation, between a few leaves united by silk. This species may overwinter at all larval stages.

Adults are strong flyers and fly from March to October. The heat-dependent caterpillars feed on Viola species (wild pansy or heartsease (Viola tricolor), field pansy (Viola arvensis), Viola canina, Viola odorata, Viola calcarata, Viola lutea, Viola biflora), lucerne (Medicago sativa), borage (Borago officinalis), Anchusa, Rubus and Onobrychis species.

In the dry regions Issoria lathonia carries out a seasonal vertical migration between hardy evergreen shrubs and small trees of plains and mountain fir pines, where it remains in summer to descend in autumn at low altitude.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - MARSH FRITILLIARY BUTTERFLY (Euphydryas aurinia)

The marsh fritillary (Euphydryas aurinia) is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. Commonly distributed in the Palearctic region, the marsh fritillary's common name derives from one of its several habitats, marshland. The prolonged larval stage lasts for approximately seven to eight months and includes a period of hibernation over the winter. The larvae are dependent on the host food plant Succisa pratensis not only for feeding but also for hibernation, because silken webs are formed on the host plant as the gregarious larvae enter hibernation. Females lay eggs in batches on the host plant and are, like other batch-layers, selective about the location of oviposition because offspring survivorship levels for batch-layers are more tied to location selection than they are for single-egg layers.

As of 2019 the butterfly's global conservation status is considered of least concern, but it has faced rapid decline and is considered regionally vulnerable or endangered over much of its range.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - SPOTTED FRITILLARY BUTTERFLY (Melitaea didyma)

Melitaea didyma, the spotted fritillary or red-band fritillary, is a Palearctic butterfly of the family Nymphalidae.

Melitaea didyma is a medium-sized butterfly with a wingspan reaching 35–50 millimetres (1.4–2.0 in). The overside of the wings is a bright orange-brown with dark brown markings arranged in rows, which are quite variable in quantity and size. Sometimes the colour of the females is a duller orange, shaded with grey-green. The underside of the wings is chequered pale yellow and pale orange. M. didyma has seasonal forms and sexual dimorphism. The male is fiery red, with a narrow dentate black distal border and a moderate number of small black dots and spots, which are dispersed over the basal half of the wing and end with a short band extending beyond the cell from the costa into the disc. On the underside, which is very abundantly marked with small black dots and hooks, a flexuose subbasal band and a curved submarginal one are situated on a delicately greenish, or yellowish, white ground. In the female the forewing and the anal area of the hindwing are much paler, being moreover dusted with blackish, while the costal half of the hindwing has preserved the red tint : the whole wings are much more abundantly but less prominently marked with black. There occur sometimes specimens with a blue gloss on the upperside.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - SMALL TORTOISESHELL BUTTERFLY (Aglais urticae)

The small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) is a colourful Eurasian butterfly in the family Nymphalidae. Adults feed on nectar and may hibernate over winter; in warmer climates they may have two broods in a season. While the dorsal surface of the wings is vividly marked, the ventral surface is drab, providing camouflage. Eggs are laid on the common nettle, on which the larvae feed.

It is a medium-sized butterfly that is mainly reddish orange, with black and yellow markings on the forewings as well as a ring of blue spots around the edge of the wings. It has a wingspan ranging from 4.5 to 6.2 cm.

22-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - PURPLE TREBLE BAR MOTH (Aplocera praeformata)

Aplocera praeformata, known as the purple treble-bar, is a species of moth in the family Geometridae.

This species is present from the Iberian Peninsula and France, through Western Europe, over Central Europe, to Russia. Its northernmost range is southern Finland and the Baltic States.  The subspecies Aplocera praeformata urbahni is found in Greece. In the Alps it is found to heights of up to 2,000 meters.

22-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - MEMPHIS BUTTERFLY (Memphis moruus)

 Memphis, described by Jacob Hübner in 1819, is a Neotropical nymphalid butterfly genus in the subfamily Charaxinae.

There are 61 species in the genus. All are Neotropical and the undersides of the wings closely resemble dead leaves. In the past Memphis was considered a subgenus of Anaea.

22-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - YELLOW ORANGE TIP BUTTERFLY (Ixias pyrene ssp. insignis)

A small white butterfly with obvious male and female dimorphism. The back of the body is dark brown and the belly is white. The back of the male butterfly's wings has a yellow background, and the top of the forewings is dark brown with orange stripes inside. There is a small dark brown spot at the end of the middle chamber. There is a row of dark brown spots along the outer edge of the hind wings, which expands into a broad dark brown band during high temperature periods. The background color of the ventral surface of the wings is yellow, and there are dark brown fine lines and small lines on the front half of the forewings and the wing surfaces of the hind wings. The dark brown markings on the back of the female butterfly's wings are similar to those of the male butterfly, but the other parts are white. The stripes on the ventral wings are similar to those of male butterflies, but the outer sides of the hind wings and forewings are yellowish white, and the rest of the wings are white. 

22-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - FLAMINGO LEAFWING BUTTERFLY (Fountainea ryphea)

The tribe Anaeini comprises of 87 neotropical species in the genera Coenophlebia, Consul, Anaea, Polygrapha, Memphis, Siderone, Fountainea and Zaretis. The butterflies are characterised by having a very rapid and strong flight. They have stout bodies, falcate wings, and on the upper surface are generally black, marked with bands of orange, bright red, or lustrous blue according to species. The undersides of all species in the Anaeini are cryptically patterned and bear a strong resemblance to the dead leaves, tree bark or boulders on which they settle.

The genus Fountainea comprises of 8 species, most of which are widely distributed throughout the neotropical region. The hindwings of most species have short tails, in both sexes, although in the males of ryphea and sosippus these are vestigial or absent.

In some races of Fountainea ryphea the males have a beautiful purple sheen across the wings, but this can only be seen from certain angles.

This species occurs in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Trinidad, Colombia, Guyana, Surinam, Ecuador, Brazil, Peru and Bolivia.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - IBERIAN SOOTY COPPER BUTTERFLY (Lycaena bleusei)

Lycaena bleusei, the Iberian sooty copper, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae, subfamily Lycaeninae. It is found in Portugal and Spain, in Europe.

The wingspan is 28–30 mm (1.1–1.2 in). The butterfly flies from late March to November, depending on the location.

The larvae feed on Rumex acetosa, Rumex acetosella, Rumex crispus and other docks.

Populations of this species are found chiefly in central Spain and Central-northern Portugal, where the species is a specialist of meadows which tend to dry out during the summer, contrary to its sister species Lycaena tityrus

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - TIGER MOTH (Subfamily Arctiinae)

 

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - SOOTY COOPER BUTTERFLY (Lycaena tityrus)

 Lycaena tityrus, the sooty copper, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Europe.

Subspecies

Lycaena tityrus tityrus (Poda, 1761) TL: Graz, Austria. Throughout Europe from Russia to central N. Spain.

Lycaena tityrus subalpina (Speyer, 1851) TL: Patscherkofel, Innsbruck, Austria. In the Alps at high altitudes.

Lycaena tityrus praebleusei Verity 1934 TL: Puerto de Pajares, Asturias, Spain. In NW. Iberia and W. France.

Lycaena bleusei (Oberthür, 1884) which has often been considered a subspecies of L. tityrus, has recently been confirmed as a species on its own according to genetics, wing-pattern variation, niche modelling and distribution.

The wingspan is 28–30 millimetres (1.1–1.2 in). The butterfly flies from April to October, depending on the location and subspecies (L. t. subalpina is univoltine in July).

The larvae feed on Rumex acetosa and Rumex acetosella.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - EASTERN DAPPLED WHITE BUTTERFLY (Euchloe ausonia)

Euchloe ausonia, the eastern dappled white, is a southern European and Palearctic butterfly found mostly to the south and east of its almost indistinguishable relative the western dappled white.

The wingspan is 36–48 mm. The forewings are white with black tips and a black spot. The underside is characterized by black and yellow scales, which create a greenish-white pattern. The female is generally darker. The two generations differ in pattern. The colour of the caterpillar varies from yellowish to greenish to bluish. It has obvious side stripes. The dorsal line and the dorsal side line are darker than the base colour. The segments have numerous, very small, black dots. The pupa is light brown and relatively slim.

Euchloe ausonia occurs in Europe in central and southern Italy as well as in the Balkan Peninsula including most of the larger, Greek islands. The northern border in Europe runs through southern Austria, Hungary and southern Ukraine. In the east, the presence in the south continues to Israel and Jordan and in the east to northern Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, to the north via the Caucasus up to southern Kazakhstan and across the Palearctic to Tian Shan, Altai and Tibet. The species prefers rocky slopes, rocky meadows, abandoned or neglected cultivated land, open olive groves, roadsides, mountain meadows and also forest edges up to 2000 m above sea level. In the habitat nectar plants, particularly cruciferous must be common as well as, of course, the caterpillar food plants.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - PROVENCE HAIRSTREAK BUTTERFLY (Tomares ballus)

Tomares ballus, the Provence hairstreak or cardenillo, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is found on the Iberian Peninsula, northern Africa and along the Mediterranean coast of France.

T. ballus F. (75 d, e). male above dark brown, with traces of small red spots in the anal area of the hindwing. In the (larger) female the forewing red-yellow except the costal and distal margins, there being a similarly coloured ovate band-like spot before the distal margin of the hindmargin. The underside of both sexes recalls that of Chrysophanus phlaeas, but the basal area of the hindwing is dusted with verdigris. French Riviera, Spain, North Africa. — The egg green, somewhat flat, with a network of polygonals, laid singly on the upperside of leaves of Boujeania hispida. Larva rather thick, not so flat as in many other Lycaenids, the segments swollen, separated from each other by deep incisions; greenish yellow, with bluish dorsal stripe and a red-brown lateral one, there being thin oblique streaks between them; until the end of May in the pods of the food-plant. Pupa ovate, rounded everywhere, with shallow minute puncturation; as far as known the larva pupates free on the ground. The butterflies from February till April in places where the food-plant grows, often exceedingly plentiful. The specimen, when covered with the net, often drops to the ground and conceals itself in the grass. The wingspan is 28–30 mm. The butterfly flies from January to April.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - EMPEROR GUM MOTH (Opodiphthera eucalypti)

 

22-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - CYNOSURA 88 BUTTERFLY (Callicore cynosura)

Callicore cynosura, the BD butterfly or Cynosura eighty-eight, is a species of butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. The common name refers to the markings on the underside of the hindwings, which resemble the letters "B" and "D". It is found in Amazonia, from Colombia to Brazil, and to Peru and Bolivia.

The wingspan is about 47 mm. The upperside of the wings is black, banded with brilliant red.

The larvae feed on Sapindaceae species. They are green, with short spikes at the tip of the abdomen, and a pair of barbed spikes projecting forward from the head.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - EASTERN ORANGE TIP BUTTERFLY (Anthocharis damone)

Anthocharis damone, the eastern orange tip, is a butterfly in the subfamily Pierinae, found in southern Europe and into Asia Minor.

Description in Seitz

A. damone Boisd. from South Italy, Sicily, the southern Balcan, Asia Minor and Syria, is sexually dimorphic. The male is lemon-yellow above and below, with a narrowly black apex, large deep orange-red apical patch, which is more or less dark-edged proximally, and with a large black median spot to the forewing: the underside of the hindwing deeper yellow, with grey-greenish markings. The female is white above and on the underside of the forewing, and has a broader blackish apex to the upperside of the forewing. — pallida form. nov. is the name for the form occurring in Mesopotamia; male above somewhat paler yellow, the dark apex of the forewing is strongly mixed with red, the orange patch is less fiery, being dark-edged only in the cell, the black median spot is smaller, less prominent, the ground-colour of the hindwing beneath is lighter yellow, and the dark markings are more united to isolated patches. In the female the black median spot of the forewing is smaller on both sides and less sharply marked, the underside of the hindwing being lighter yellow.

1-8-2021 ULLAL DE BALDOVI, VALENCIA - NOMAD DRAGONFLY (FEMALE) (Sympetrum fonscolombii)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/113507-Sympetrum-fonscolombii

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - SOUTHERN BROWN ARGUS BUTTERFLY (Aricia cramera)

Aricia cramera, the southern brown argus, is a butterfly of the family Lycaenidae. It is a butterfly of Southern Europe and North Africa and can be found from Morocco and Tunisia up to Spain and Portugal, on Mediterranean islands including Menorca and on the Canary Islands.

The wingspan ranges to up to 30 mm. The butterfly flies from May to September depending on the location.

The larvae feed on Erodium, Helianthemum and Geranium species.

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - IBERIAN SCARCE SWALLOWTAIL BUTTERFLY (Iphiclides feisthamelii)

Iphiclides feisthamelii, the southern scarce swallowtail, southern swallowtail or Iberian scarce swallowtail, is a butterfly found in Italy, Slovenia, southern France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of I. podalirius.

The larva feeds on Prunus amygdalus (almond), P. persica (peach), P. insititia (a kind of plum), P. longipes, Pyrus communis (common pear), Malus domesticus (apple) and Crataegus oxyacantha.

 

1-8-2021 LAGUNA DE SAMERUC, VALENCIA - SPECKLED WOOD BUTTERFLY (Pararge aegeria)

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/52592-Pararge-aegeria

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - CATALONIAN FURRY BLUE BUTTERFLY (Polyommatus fulgens)

2-8-2021 SPACE MUSEUM, CUENCA - SOOTY ORANGE TIP BUTTERFLY (Zegris eupheme)

The sooty orange tip (Zegris eupheme) is a Palearctic Pieridae butterfly that has a range that extends through southern Europe, southwest Europe, northern Africa, East Kazakhstan and Asia Minor. Global warming currently seems to be extending its range to the north. The habitat consists of open flowery grasslands amongst hills.

The wingspan is 46–50 mm (1.8–2.0 in). Adults have yellow undersides and a patch of orange. They have distinctive grey-black forewing tips. Adults are on wing from mid-March to mid-June in one generation per year.

The larvae feed on Sinapis incana, Raphanus, Sisymbrium polymorphum and Camelina laxa.

In Morocco, the species is particularly associated with woad (Isatis tinctoria), and is found at mid and high elevations in the Middle and High Atlas Mountains. Larvae are often found on the same individual host plant as caterpillars of Euchloe, Pieris rapae and Pieris brassicae. Compared to these other pierines, Z. eupheme is associated with very stable environments.