wingspan : 40/42 mm
late October we collected two Perisama ambatensis at Quebrada Cugusha.
one looks pretty much like P. a. phenix which would fly from rio Zamora down to Peru (Attal & Crosson du Cormier 1996), the second one (see pictures on individual variations) is a typical P. a. ambatensis which would be known exclusively from the Baños/Puyo Corridor (Attal & Crosson du Cormier 1996). the two were collected on the same day, exactly on the same spot.
and in 2012, we collected at Guarumales what probably is the first known female of Perisama ambatensis.
presence in Sangay NP of Perisama ambatensis "subspecies" outside their known geographic distribution
the problem we have with Perisama ambatensis is the same that we have with Perisama hazarma, P. dorbignyi, P. ouma, P. paralicia and P. philinus nyctimene.
in their 1996 book, which is the only recent, serious and well documented book dealing with Genus Perisama, Attal & Crosson du Cormier state that these six species do not fly in Sangay NP, when we saw them all on various occasions, some of them being quite common.
the reason for that is obvious : the authors spent a lot of time in the Loja-Zamora area, they also collected extensively in the Baños-Puyo Corridor, but they made little fieldwork between these two areas, and never visited Sangay NP, probably for its difficult access, and certainly very difficult twenty five years ago.
the book maps tell us that only seven Perisama species fly in Sangay NP, and we collected fifteen already.
it is not important in itself, but has direct consequences : the authors have established many new ssp, and very often one North and one South of Sangay NP, without considering there could be butterflies flying somewhere between these North and South populations.
and facts are that we found eight unexpected species in the NP, and, for three, or maybe four, of these species we collected and photographed specimens obviously intermediate between Northern and Southern ssp (see individual variation pages).
these species are:
- P. dorbignyi
- P. hazarma
- P. ambatensis
- and maybe P. bomplandii (only one specimen)
as a consequence we have question marks re. ssp :
- paula and mola of P. dorbignyi
- ambatensis and phenix of P. ambatensis
and we do not believe P. hazarma davidii to be a valid ssp.
Perisama ambatensis is not a common sight in Sangay NP, but we found, in addition to typical "ambatensis" and "phenix", several specimens obviously somewhere between the two (see individual variation page).
the bottom pictures are those of two very different P. ambatensis that were mud puddling side by side at Quebrada Cugusha (left "ambatensis", right "phenix").
these four specimens come from the very same location ; the two butterflies on the left look like, the top one, P. a. ambatensis, the bottom one P. a. phenix,
but what about those two on the right ?
