Dr Seow, after looking through C&P4 today I can appreciate how similar A. muta and A. moorei are. However, I noticed a feature of A. moorei is that the FW upperside border is wider than the HW, a feature I believe is shown in Arhopala no. 4 (I hope I am not over-simplifying matters!) However, I still cannot appreciate which features are important in deciding the species or not.
Could you educate me on the ways of separating these species? (and would you be confident in assigning IDs to the Arhopalas 2, 3 and 4?)
Thanks very much!
The ID of these Arhopala are very difficult without seeing the upperside.
Although no2 , 3, & 4 looks different they could all be one species, merely from different colonies.
Arhopala metamuta; FW deepviolet blue; HW bright greenish blue : female bright blue with HW border wider than female A. muta.
UnF spot 2 & 3 with their margins aligned. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...91_4_Fitch.png
A. muta: Male FW violet blue; HW paler blue or only partially /basally .Female bright purple blue with wider border, (HW border narrower than in F. metamuta).
UnFc spot 2 & 3 partially dislocated & out of alignment.
A. moorei Male both wings violet blue ; female duller purple blue than female muta.
Underside FW spot 2 & 3 partially dislocated as in A. muta.
Unfortunately there is a lot of confusion with these species.
There are a lot of mixedup on the net.
There is also confusion with A. hypomuta, the female with very broad borders.
In A. hypomuta the FW spot 4 is dislocated & shifted out (as in A atosia).HW sometimes with a spot at the base of space 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arhopa...aMFUpUnAC1.jpg
No. 2 is unusually pale & diffrent, with smaller spots. Possibly A. metamuta.
3 & 4 . They are probably from the same colony. The wide dislocation of the postdiscal band at vein 2 is unusual.
The upperside with difference in FW & HW indicate it is A. muta .
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