Iridana incredibilis

Iridana incredibilis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Lepidoptera
Family: Lycaenidae
Genus: Iridana
Species:
I. incredibilis
Binomial name
Iridana incredibilis
Synonyms
  • Iris incredibilis Staudinger, 1891
  • Iris ansorgei Grose-Smith, 1898

Iridana incredibilis, the incredible sapphire gem, is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, southern Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.[2] The habitat consists of forests.

Adults are on wing in September, November and January.

Description in Seitz

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In the male the greenish-blue, strongly reflecting colour of the forewing above covers the areas 1 a, 1 b and the discal cell, the greatest part of the areas 2 and 3 and about half of the areas 4 and 5, as well as the whole hindwing except the costal, proximal and distal margins which are black in 1 to 2 mm width. In the female the forewing is above black and only in the basal part of the areas 1 b to 3 broadly blue; on the hindwing the margins are 3 mm broad black. The under surface of the forewing is dull black with three light, Isabel-coloured spots in the discal cell, behind the latter and in the anal angle, with a grey costal margin and a light apical part intensely speckled brown, semicircularly bordered with greenish quite at the apex; posteriorly the narrow greenish semicircle is continued as a narrow,violet distal-marginal stripe. Very peculiar is the under surface of the hindwing showing a light brownish-greyground-colour very densely speckled with dark, in the distal part with dark brown; through the middle runs a rather broad, grey transverse band with a dull silvery lustre in a certain light, more or less bordered with black at its margins and showing in the middle a reniform macula surrounded by black; all these black margins are more or less bordered with a brownish red; immediately in front of the margin there is a very narrow,linear transverse band with a dull silvery grey lustre, proximally bordered with black, outside before the silvery grey fringes very finely with red-brown.[3]

References

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  1. ^ Iridana at Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms
  2. ^ "Afrotropical Butterflies: Lycaenidae - Subtribe Epitolina". Archived from the original on 2018-11-23. Retrieved 2012-09-13.
  3. ^ Per Olof Christopher Aurivillius in Seitz, A., 1925 Die exotischen Großschmetterlinge,Band 13: Abt. 2, Die afrikanischen Tagfalter, 1925, 613 Seiten, 80 TafelnPublic Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
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