Help with Rapala species please

[MrGee]

I found this Rapala recently and, unable to identify it with my limited resources, asked Les for some help (as usual). He said:

Very interesting. To be honest, I am not absolutely sure which species it is. Using C&P4 keys, I seem to come out at Rapala rhodopis. This is a rare species, and would be a great find. There is no harm in posting the photos on BC to see if anyone can help. There are a couple of very similar species which would be even more surprising to find in Cambodia, they really are not supposed to be anywhere close to your area, R. cowani and R. hades.

So, please can someone help with this ID?

Many thanks

[Commander]

Hi Gee,

The Rapala genus is well-studied by the Japanese, and there are still new discoveries at species/subspecies level. Not easy to ID and you may want to refer to our Rapala resource here.

That red patch on the forewing with near-brown hindwings could also point to R. nissa

[Psyche]

After going through the pics of all the Rapala the most likely ID is R. nissa.

R. nissa is widespread, & ? common. Called Common Flash, the mainland form usually is steely blue in both sexes, but there are examples in which an orange patch is present on the forewing.

It is highly likely that some forms may lose the irridescent blue as shown in the Sumatran race. This is more likely to occur in the female, and this happen to be a female, from the broad wings.

The underside pattern also supports this ID. Both the postdiscal lines or bands are fairly straight, a hallmark of this species. They are not curved in an arc like most of the other species.

TL Seow

[MrGee]

Thank you Seow. Not quite so exciting as one of Les's suggestions but they cannot all be rare!

[MrGee]

Oh, I forgot to say thank you also for the link to the Rapala resource - very useful!

[Painted Jezebel]

I did not consider R. nissa for several reasons. Firstly, the upperside was not steely blue, and secondly, C&P4 states that it is a purely montane species. The underside is also supposed to be purple washed, this one does not appear so. Finally, the orange discal patch seems larger, expanding into space 2, than in the photos of the species I have seen.

This is a tricky one, to me!