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Project Noah Nature School
Manataria hercyna maculata
Dark brown Butterfly with white spots (Family Satyridae). It is the only butterfly I have seen that comes to lights and flies all about very agitated when the lights are on. The underside of the wings are very intricate and it likes to land hanging up-side-down and rarely opens it's wings. It often has a purple iridescence to the underside of the wings, as can be seen in Pictures 4 and 5 (which were taken 16 September 2013). This is typically a fall butterfly.
Came to lights in the garden (3 different individuals). Semi-urban area on the outskirts of the city, 2,200 meters. They hang around in deep shade during the day.
Spotted on Nov 14, 2012
Submitted on Nov 15, 2012
3 Comments
Added pictures to this spotting.
Thank you Ashish, the common names for the family in the US are "Wood Nymphs" (cool name because they flit around in the shade in forests) or "Satyrs" (also cool). I don't know if there is a common name for this one in Mexico. Maybe most people never see it. I have never seen it in the daytime!
In India such called Browns... they are very co-operative to take their pictures...