''Rapala cassidyi'', the Cassidy's flash is a
lycaenid 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 ...
found in
Sulawesi
Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...
.
[Vane-Wright R.I. & de Jong R., The Butterflies of Sulawesi, NMNH, 2003.] It was discovered in 1985 during the Project Wallace expedition of the
Royal Entomological Society
The Royal Entomological Society is a learned society devoted to the study of insects. It aims to disseminate information about insects and to improve communication between entomologists.
The society was founded in 1833 as the Entomological S ...
.
[Takanami Y., Notes on some species of the genus ''Rapala'' from Sulawesi, with the description of a new species. ''Tyo to Ga'', 43(3):193-202.] The female remains undescribed.
Range
The species lives in northern
Sulawesi
Sulawesi ( ), also known as Celebes ( ), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the List of islands by area, world's 11th-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Min ...
, Indonesia, in
Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park
Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park is a 2,871 km2 (1,108 mi2) national park on Minahassa Peninsula on Sulawesi island, Indonesia. Formerly known as Dumoga Bone National Park, it was established in 1991 and was renamed in honour of Na ...
.
Description
The upperside of the male is unusual in that it has only a small amount of pale orange on the discal area of the forewing below the cell; a pattern more reminiscent of females of the genus. The underside ground colour is light slate brown with a glossy sheen. The usual postdiscal striae or the genus are present in an ochreous colour and there is a diffuse ochreous marginal band on both wings.
Gallery
Image:RapalaCassidyiUpFullAC1.JPG, Upperside, paratype
In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype (biology), isotype ...
male, from northern Sulawesi
Image:RapalaCassidyiUnFullAC1.JPG, Underside, paratype male, from northern Sulawesi
See also
*
Theclinae
The subfamily Theclinae is a group of butterflies, often referred to as hairstreaks, with some species instead known as elfins or by other names. The group is part of the family Lycaenidae, the "gossamer-winged butterflies". There are many tropi ...
Cited references
Rapala (butterfly)
Butterflies described in 1992
{{Theclinae-stub