''Matsutaroa'' is a

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

genus in the family

Lycaenidae Lycaenidae is the second-largest family (biology), family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of ...

. It is nearest to the genus '' Ancema'', but differs from it in the following points: (1) veins 5 and 6 on the forewing are not very close at their origins, but in ''Ancema'' they are very close at their origins; (2) the ground colour of the underside of the male is white, tinged with pale yellow and blue and has no shade of silver, but in the genus ''Ancema'' the ground colour of the underside is more or less tinged with silver; (3) in the male genitalia the valva is stout, a short brachial process is separating from the dorsum of the valva, and the phallus is stout, but in ''Ancema'' the valva is slender, a long brachial process separating from the ventral direction of valva, and the phallus is very slender. ''Matsutaroa'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus, containing only ''Matsutaroa iljai''."''Matsutaroa'' Hayashi, Schröder & Treadaway, 1984"
at Markku Savela's ''Lepidoptera and Some Other Life Forms'' It is endemic to the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

and found on the islands of

Masbate Masbate, officially the Province of Masbate (Masbateño language, Masbateño: ''Probinsya san Masbate''; ), is an island Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located near the midsection of the nation's archipelago. Its provi ...

Negros Negros (, , ) is the fourth largest and third most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of . The coastal zone of the southern part of Negros is identified as a site of highest marine biodiversity importance in the Coral Tr ...

and

Panay Panay is the sixth-largest and fourth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total land area of and a total population of 4,542,926, as of 2020 census. Panay comprises 4.4 percent of the entire population of the country. The City of Il ...

. Its forewing length is 18–20 mm. The appearance of male and female is quite different. On

Kanlaon Volcano Kanlaon, also known as Mount Kanlaon and Kanlaon Volcano (; ; ), is an active andesitic stratovolcano and the highest mountain on the island of Negros in the Philippines, as well as the highest peak in the Visayas, with an elevation of above ...

of Negros it occurs once a year (June to August) and is frequently found on red flowers. The generic name is dedicated to Mr. Matsutaro Hayashi, the father of the first author.

References

* , 1984: New lycaenid butterflies from the Philippines (Inscta: Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). ''Senckenbergiana Biologica'' 65(1/2):29-41. * , 1995. Checklist of the butterflies of the Philippine Islands (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera) ''Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo'' Suppl.14: 7–118. * 1997: A concise guide for the identification of ''Tajuria'' (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) and its allies with description of new subspecies (1). ''Butterflies'', 18: 46–53. * , 2012: Revised checklist of the butterflies of the Philippine Islands (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera). ''Nachrichten des Entomologischen Vereins Apollo'', Suppl. 20: 1-64. * , 2016. A Synonymic List of Lycaenidae (Lepidoptera) from the Philippines, Edition 1

Iolaini Lycaenidae genera Monotypic butterfly genera {{Theclinae-stub