Exoplisia cadmeis, male, Rio Shima, Satipo, Peru – Adrian Hoskins
Introduction
Butterflies in the genus Exoplisia are closely allied to the metallic blue Lasaia Sapphires, but more closely resemble Emesis in appearance. There are 4 species – cadmeis, hypochalbe, hypochloris and myrtis, all of which are neotropical in distribution.
The males of most species are dull earthy brown in colour with a pattern of dashes and lines similar to that of Emesis species. Exoplisia cadmeis differs from the others in having a grey ground colour. On the underside the pattern is similar, but the ground colour is overlaid with a blue iridescence.
The female of cadmeis has a pale brown ground colour on both wing surfaces, and has much more rounded wings than the male. The females of the other 3 Exoplisia species are entirely unknown to science, which suggests that they are arboreal in habit.Exoplisia cadmeis is distributed from Honduras to Bolivia and Paraguay.
Habitats
This species is found in rainforest and cloudforest habitats at altitudes between about 600-1200m.
Lifecycle
In captivity the larvae have been successfully reared on Ochroma pyramidale ( Bombacaceae ) but it is not known which foodplants are used in the wild state.
Adult behaviour
Males are scarce, but can sometimes be found imbibing mineralised moisture from damp ground.
I have not seen the female.