New Athyma specie?

[richardlbong]

Found this fast flying Athyma at SF yesterday. Unlike most I've seen, the middle stripe is rather broad and when in flight I first mistook it to be a Commander.

Richard

[Commander]

Heh... without sounding like a broken tape recorder, Richard...

Get a copy of C&P4!

This is a male Colour Sergeant (Athyma nefte subrata). In bright sunlight, the white has some blue edging and appears much wider than it really is. Our human eyes perceive the whites more distinctly, which gives the optical illusion that a butterfly is larger than it is.

This effect is especially more pronounced in species like the Snow Flats, which appear strangely whiter and larger when in flight.

I'll take note of the month of sighting and see if there is any correlation with the orange subapical spot variant which appears from time to time. Do a search on the forums for your earlier shots where if I recall correctly, you nailed an orange spot specimen.

Here's an earlier discussion I posted on this species.