Help with ID please

[Psyche]

Post 10.

1. is Arhopala pseudomuta.
The small spot above the central cell-spot is missing (which sometimes happened). The rest of the pattern is typical.

(After going thru another request, I realised you thought this looks somewhat like A. alitaeus with its more rounded spots & purplish tone. Possibly there is a hybrid element in this one. The colour tone may be due to wb imbalance. A. pseudomuta sometimes have a slight purplish tone. However, if the striae of the hindwing submarginal band are weak & faded compared to those around the spots(not always true) it is A. pseudomuta even if it has some hybrid blood. Addendum: If it does look like the typical A. alitaeus you shot before, leave it as A. pseudomuta. )

2. I have a strong feeling you do have a male Jamides pura here.
Not only are the hindwing striae perfectly aligned (as in most examples of J. pura) but the white striae are very broad.
Here is a local male J. celeno for comparison.
http://www.butterflycircle.com/check...obby%20Mun.jpg
To confirm I need to see the outer margin of the forewing, whether there is a black border or not. (J. pura have no black border.)

I have been trying to correlate whether all with thick white striae are J. pura, but no pic of upperside have been posted.

TL Seow

[MinuteMaid]

Post 10.

1. is Arhopala pseudomuta.
The small spot above the central cell-spot is missing (which sometimes happened). The rest of the pattern is typical.

(After going thru another request, I realised you thought this looks somewhat like A. alitaeus with its more rounded spots & purplish tone. Possibly there is a hybrid element in this one. The colour tone may be due to wb imbalance. A. pseudomuta sometimes have a slight purplish tone. However, if the striae of the hindwing submarginal band are weak & faded compared to those around the spots(not always true) it is A. pseudomuta even if it has some hybrid blood. Addendum: If it does look like the typical A. alitaeus you shot before, leave it as A. pseudomuta. )

2. I have a strong feeling you do have a male Jamides pura here.
Not only are the hindwing striae perfectly aligned (as in most examples of J. pura) but the white striae are very broad.
Here is a local male J. celeno for comparison.
http://www.butterflycircle.com/check...obby%20Mun.jpg
To confirm I need to see the outer margin of the forewing, whether there is a black border or not. (J. pura have no black border.)

I have been trying to correlate whether all with thick white striae are J. pura, but no pic of upperside have been posted.

TL Seow

Hi Dr. Seow,

here's an upperside shot (blur) of that un-id Jamides. It has a very slight black edge at the forewing. so does this mean it is J. celeno?



Here's a mating pair of the same sp. i think?

[MinuteMaid]

Just on a separate note, are these also J. celeno?

[Psyche]

The upperside is that of J.celeno. Here, J pura have the black border a mere thread.

What a disappointment! It also means it is impossible to ID J. pura from the underside, perfect alignment & thick striae are useless.

All your pics are more typical J. celeno.

TL Seow

[MinuteMaid]

The upperside is that of J.celeno. Here, J pura have the black border a mere thread.

What a disappointment! It also means it is impossible to ID J. pura from the underside, perfect alignment & thick striae are useless.

All your pics are more typical J. celeno.

TL Seow

thanks for the help!

At least now we know

the last picture, the one puddling on the sand with the faded wings. It looked a little bit different to me because the 'V" marking on the hindwing inbetween the tornus and the dorsum looked unfamiliar to me. looks like J. celeno is highly variable!!

[Psyche]

Hi Lemon,
Is there a possibility that the 2 pix here are of 2 different butterflies.
I ask this because in looking at valid examples of J. pura two features in combination define J. pura on the underside.

1. Perfect or near perfect alignment of the white striae on the hindwing.
2. The tornal black spot is narrowed at the side with 2 white bars (rectangular-shaped.)

Here is J. pura from Brunei showing the same features.
http://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...sMFUpUnAC1.jpg

Also see C&P4's plate 36/18 of J. pura underside.

The male of our local form of J. pura do not have a black border.
If there is a possibility of doubt or mixup this would explain why the upperside & underside are at odds.
It also means you very likely have J. pura.

TL Seow