wingspan : 29 mm
the obvious differences between Mesosemia metura metura and M. m. polyglauca are, on the UP :
- HW - three dark lines plus the dark margin on polyglauca, four on metura,
- FW - basally from the eyespot, no line on polyglauca, two on metura,
- distally from the eyespot, three dark lines plus the margin on polyglauca, four on metura.
this male, collected at rio Bigal, is halfway between the two "ssp" with metura additional lines present, but barely visible and patchy, and the same applies to the specimen pictured by John Christensen at Pimpilala.
the type of polyglauca is from Tarapoto, and it's been barcoded by Nick Grishin which removes any doubt regarding its belonging to species metura.
we do not know how are things in Peru, but, as we found these specimens and M. metura metura on the very same spots, we tend to believe it all boils down to intraspecific variations.
we tentatively put this female on this page as it also comes from rio Bigal, but it is a typical metura metura.
