wingspan :
Eurybia annulata, South of Tena, Pimpilala.
(*) see new facts page
the description of Eurybia dardus dates from the end of the XVIIIth century, then, between 1860 and 1910 four new subspecies were described : franciscana, unxia, rubeolata and annulata.
since then, three of these subspecies have been elevated to species level, and today we are left with the nominal subspecies and with dardus annulata that flies East of the Andes from Colombia to Peru.
we collected a few in Ecuador, from North to South, and obviously our specimens belong to two different groups :
- A - rather small 34/44 mm, upperside light brown, clearly visible markings, on the HWUND discal line clearly broken (in green on the pictures), also on the HWUND always an additional spot (circled in green) near the anal margin.
- B - medium sized 44/54 mm, upperside dark brown, weak markings, on the HWUND a more rounded discal line, and never an additional spot near the anal margin.
so we wonder if this last subspecies shouldn't also be made a species in its own right ?
temporarily we call group A : dardus, and group B : annulata.
