Introduction
There are 1100 known species of Satyrinae in the neotropical region. About 400 of these are placed in the Euptychiina. Butterflies within this tribe include the ‘ringlet’ genera Euptychia, Magneuptychia, Harjesia, Cissia, Caeruleuptychia, Magneuptychia etc; together with Oressinoma and the various ‘wood nymph’ genera i.e. Parataygetis, Posttaygetis and Taygetis. Most are inhabitants of the forest understorey and tend to fly close to the ground. They generally avoid sunlight and prefer to fly at dawn or on cloudy days when light levels and temperatures are low.
Until fairly recently almost all of the ‘ringlets’ were placed in the genus Euptychia but revisions by Forster and Lamas divide this convenience genus into a number of smaller genera, on the basis of anatomical differences and larval foodplants. The new genus Splendeuptychia contains 46 species, including 23 which at the time of writing (2013) have not yet been assigned scientific names.
Splendeuptychia ackeryi is endemic to the Magdalena valley in Colombia. It can be distinguished from its close Ecuadorian relative toynei by its ‘hairier’ labial palpi.
Habitats
The butterfly occurs in cloudforest at elevations between about 1600-2000m.
Lifecycle
To be completed.
Adult behaviour
Splendeuptychia ackeryi is semi-crepuscular in habit, preferring to fly when temperatures and light levels are low, at dawn and dusk, or on overcast days.