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Drupadia sp
small mating butterflies, family Lycaenidae
tropical rainforest
Spotted with Chun Xing Wong in Tawau hills park.
Spotted on Jan 24, 2014
Submitted on Apr 4, 2014
7 Comments
Thanks Chun and bayucca for this discussion of ID. I've updated it just to the genus for now. Thanks dotun.
Chun, I certainly know that about the tiny little differences ;-)... In the European Lycaenidae you also often need DNA or genital dissection for proper ID.
And in this case it would not even make sense to add Drupadia cf. ravinda, so I would go with the genus name only.
Bayucca's suggestion - Drupadia ravindra, looks similar to this
but I am not going to agree nor disagree with that ID.
Lycaenidae butterflies are really tough to identify because
so many species look almost alike each other.
Just a tiny difference in it's wing patterns may prove it to be a different species.
Interesting butterfly photo.
Based on the markings I think it might be Drupadia ravindra and not Drupadia theda.
http://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Drupad...
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c386/m...
Theda should have an "empty" "L" on the hindwing and broader "stripes" on the forewing compared to Ravinda.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/berniedup/...
http://www.samuibutterflies.com/expediti...
What do you guys think?
I was thinking that too Chun, from what I saw on learnaboutbutterflies.com, but wasn't sure if it was that genus or not. Some can look so similar but be different genera, hopefully we can get more confirmation.
Drupadia genus.
Can't confirm the exact species.